Ohana: The 100th Hunger Games
by santiago.poncini20
Summary: "Family Means Nobody Gets Left Behind" A SYOT collaboration between Silverflowerxravenpaw and me
1. Prologue: From Hell and Hope

Milo was in the dark.

He didn´t know what the future will hold for him. It was especially with the Centennial Anniversary of the Hunger Games and the Fourth Quarter Quell on the way. And more after, after Hope was gone.

His everything, his friend, his companion, his _lover_. The woman, who made all he could to help with his addiction, is it gambling or drinking or any kind of drugs, especially morphing. He couldn´t stop, he couldn´t end it, and was ready to go out with a bang throw a window glass, she was there to stop him and give him an embracing hug, where he would feel nice, comforted and happy.

Because with her he was truly happy. She was delighted to do what she did every time, and she never wanted to stop. She was his Magic Pixie Dream Girl, and he loved it. He loved everything about her, the love and hugs she gave him, the laughs and smile she provoked on him. She was his life and nothing seemed able to go wrong.

That was, until it all finally happened and the whole of it ruined his life. Until he had to see his Hope has to fight survival, to come back to him. She was going to have to survive, and she tried to make it out alive without hurting anyone, but that wasn't happening. So she tried to fight the hard way to keep herself alive at any cost, to make her priority to live and live fully.

But that wasn´t going to happen either. She was going to die, she was going to have her life ended and she or he couldn´t do it anything about it but watch as her life fell out of their hands and there was no Hope in this world anymore.

Darkness was winning and he was going to let them do it. He was going to let them because he was angry. He did it because he was sad, and also because he was tired. He couldn´t do anything about, about his depression, about his sadness and his calm demeanor on the outside, but his turbulent mind and intrusive thoughts on the inside. He was trapped on the world of suffering, on the world of pain and blood. On the world of needles and money, more of the lack of it and less of expending and using it.

He was ready to go when he heard the Quarter Quell twist. He was holding in his hands the miracle pills, the ones who will end it all. It was on the television of the orphanage he lived in, where she used to live in, where they used to enjoy life until it was ended. He saw the bloody president held his hand up high with the envelope in his hands. He held them up, his bloody hands up high where they should be, away from the usual crowd.

"For this Centennial Anniversary and Fourth Quarter Quell, has a way of showing the rebels that every war and rebellion comes with a great cost, only one tribute will be reaped… But they will have to choose a family member of any age and gender to go with them into the Hunger Games. May the odds be ever in your favor"

Milo laughed and laughed and laughed, and then he died.

* * *

**Hey everyone! I'm working on another SYOT, and this one's a collaboration with SilverflowerxRavenpaw (aka Silver)! We're allowing reservations for this story, and it IS first come, first serve, except we reserve the right to reject tributes if we can't write them well or if there are better options for the story (both of which would be unusual).**  
**Silver will be writing Districts THREE, FOUR, SEVEN, EIGHT, TEN and TWELVE.**  
**I will be writing Districts ONE, TWO, FIVE, SIX, NINE, and ELEVEN.**  
**I tend to write longer chapters in third person POV, while Silver writes a little shorter (but she'll work on being longer!) and in first person POV. Submit accordingly (so you know which POV you'll be getting). Feel free to request which scenes your tribute gets in the OTHER section of the POV and the author will try to make sure everything fits together!**  
**THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW: Silver believes there's no homophobia in Panem and being trans doesn't exist in Panem (it's a Panem thing, contact her if you'd like to know more). I believe in transphobia and homophobia in Panem.**

**See you in the first reapings!**


	2. Tribute List and Forms

**Tribute list:**

_District One Pair: Logan and Kaj Van Diamanten - Zacksteel_

_District Two Pair: Aias and Aisha Wayne - SparrowBirdEliza_

_District Three Pair: Xaran and Parter Lith - EmberLex_

_District Four Pair: Reserved by S.H Reke_

_District Five Pair: Reserved by Elim9_

_District Six Pair: Reserved by TheAmazingJAJ_

_District Seven Pair: Reserved by glittergirl20_

_District Eight Pair: Reserved by willemsbakedgoods_

_District Nine Pair: Amsterdam and Paris Draper - AlexFalTon_

_District Ten Pair: Reserved by Vr_

_District Eleven Pair: Jadee and Jacob Applessed - DefoNotAFangirl_

_District Twelve Pair: Reserved by Reader Castellan_

* * *

Tribute Form:

Name:

Age:

District:

Appearance or Faceclaim:

Gender Reaped as:

Identified Gender:

Sexuality:

Personality:

Backstory:

Friends:

Family:

Reaped or volunteered:

If former reaction and if the latter why?:

Who do they chose and why:

Parade outfit (optional):

What they do in training:

What they show in private session:

Suggested score (optional):

Capitol Scenes:

Interview outfit:

Interview Angle:

Games Plan:

Allying or no:

Bloodbath plan:

Chosen Tribute Form:

Name:

Age:

District:

Appearance or Faceclaim:

Gender Reaped as:

Identified Gender:

Sexuality:

Personality:

Backstory:

Friends:

Family:

Reaction to being chosen:

Parade outfit (optional):

What they do in training:

What they show in private session:

Suggested score (optional):

Capitol Scenes:

Interview outfit:

Interview Angle:

Games Plan:

Allying or no:

* * *

Little Daisy went to a farm

They all ate cake barm

But the it sounded, the Alarm

And they all had to woke up


	3. One: Cain and Abel

**TRIGGERS: Homosexual slurs. We don´t feel that way, the tribute does **

* * *

**District One **

* * *

Logan was angry but angrier than usual.

Today it was his birthday, but as always everyone was paying attention to _Kaj, _that damn Kaj who does nothing right but to be _perfect_,_ lovely and loved_. It was obvious what was happening here, oh yeah, it was.

Kaj had always been the favorite son, and he knew it.

Amber and Lex had always told him that it wasn´t true, that they didn´t play favorites, but he knew it. He saw it in their eyes, the looks they gave _him _and the _stares_ they landed on the poor dear Logan Van Diamanten.

Like now, when instead of giving him presents or gifts or even telling him "Happy Birthday", they are congratulating Kaj on being "the best in the class". What the hell, as if he really were that. He probably cheated using one of his numerous and infinite friends he has. The only good thing that had happened to him was Kaj coming out as gay, and therefore losing the friends he had from the more conservative part of District One, which it isn´t saying much because most of the district aspires to be some kind of hooker or someone who is into anything that moves, like the people from the Capitol do.

He couldn´t stand to him being happy after discovering his brother fooling around with a guy, so he told their parents, hoping they would banish Kaj forever and he would never have to see his face ever again, but they didn´t. Amber and Lex _supported_ his choice and even were happy that he was getting some real relationship action.

Now, he hates them. Not as much as he despises Kaj for being so damn _nice_. He hates him, he hates all of the words he says to him and all the "brotherly love" he has for him. He hates that faggot and wishes him the worst.

But it is pointless. No one will ever consider him better than Kaj. Not any guy, any girl, any relative, any parents, anyone. He is doomed and cursed to always be the unfavorite one, the undesirable. The ugly, the bad and the dirty are all him in just one person, and he knows it. He knows how bad his life has become with his obsessions towards his brother, and that he has no will left in the world to stop it from continuing.

_He is nothing like his brother_, all the girls at school and in the Academy have always said, even after he came out as homosexual, one hundred percent gay.

_Why can´t behave more like your sibling over there, Mister Van Diamanten?_ The teachers and everyone else in his life have always said to him when the two are together for some reason, somewhere

_Kaj doesn´t mess up things like you, Kaj is so beautiful, Kaj Kaj Kaj Kaj, _he is so damn tired of hearing everyone comparing Kaj and him. They are two different people for god´s sake.

What he remembers the most is one night when they were younger and Kaj accidentally broke a toy. His father, who had been the only adult in the house at that moment, had instantly thought that Logan was to blame.

He remembers the words that came out of his mouth when mom got home while he was punished

_Why can´t you be more like Kaj?_

Oh, well. Now they are all going to see, with this Quarter Quell they are going to see him burning his brother into flames, and him rising back in victory.

His plan? Well, let´s say it is just natural retribution for all he suffered… and Kaj should have too.

* * *

Kaj was preparing himself for a special night, one that everyone will be able to remember soon enough.

"It´s picture time!" His mother said so loudly he felt that, if he were in District Twelve, he could probably hear her. She was always this loud, but much more when she wanted to be heard and when she felt profound pride and love for someone, namely her children.

But it was mostly him.

He didn´t mean that mom didn´t love both his brother and his equally, no, it wasn´t that. It was just that he believed that he, as being the one was best dressed up, would be the one more deserving of applause and praise.

_I mean, Logan´s a clown_, he thought while keeping a straight smiling facing for the camera. _He is literally dressed as a clown_.

Meanwhile, Kaj was dressed as the marvelous, fantastic, magnificent Captain Panem. The one who kicked the rebels back into District Thirteen in the cartoons he watched when he was younger, and now in the live-action movies they smuggled from the Capitol to watch in their own homes. Everyone would always compare him to him, with their blonde hair, green eyes, broad shoulders and is very tall at 6 feet. He was always like that and he liked it that way. He didn´t like to admit it much, but he liked the praise people gave him. He liked when people said he was wonderful, that he was the nicest man they had ever met and that he was very humble.

But alas, you can´t say that without sounding a bit too arrogant, so he had to keep his head on the ground and pretend to be really modest and just a little bit flattered.

He sometimes wondered why people couldn´t be truer with their feelings. Why people couldn´t just say what they felt like and deal with it. He always saw the fakeness on people since he lost some of his friends because of his sexuality, but he would never admit that. There are so many things Kaj Van Diamanten would never admit with heart openly, but he can pretend that he isn´t fully into the other extreme of the spectrum either.

But maybe that was what had separated him and Logan. Before puberty, they had been the best of friends. They had done everything together. They were only two years apart in age, so it was pretty damn obvious that it was bound to happen. They played together, helped the other study (Logan helped him with Academy stuff, since he was the littler of the two, while Logan being less of a brainiac needed help with school stuff). But something had happened with pubes and hair had started to show up in new places in Kaj´s body. His new popularity had torn them apart, and they had no else to look back to. They only had the future.

Except, that he sometimes got melancholic about the past, and he wants their friendship back. Sure, he had a lot of friends, but as they said, there is nothing better than finding yourself comfortable with those who are nearest to you.

For that the reason, he still cared about his brother, for their past, and for their possible future.

"Are you okay?" He asked Logan who was aside of picture, alongside his friend Samuel who was dressed up as the serial killer from the movie "_One´s Missing_". That wouldn´t get him any girls at all.

"Yeah. Actually, I am pretty happy. Do you know the reaping soon?"

"Yes. After this one, you will be free forever Logan."

"Free forever… yeah, that sounds about right" He said with a big smile on his face.

He wasn´t usually this smiley, but he wasn´t going to complain. If his brother was happy, he was too.

* * *

**There you have it! D1 of Ohana. Now, if you want us to keep doing more, keep submitting! We would appreaciate it!**


	4. Eleven: Civilization or not Civilization

**District Eleven**

* * *

Jadee was desperate to get some food.

In the Capitol, the abundance of food was known for much of it, while the districts were known for lack of it. She was starving and clinging at any possibilities of food to come by, to "grab them by the ***", like an old president said once. She didn't know what he had meant while saying that, but it sounded pretty damn funny, so she decided to copy it.

The overseer of the orphanage hadn´t liked that, but luckily for her, she was pretty damn smart and escaped the grasp of his hands.

Jacob hadn´t been that lucky. He had been in the middle of the race between her and Miller Willows, the thief and the police, the cat and the mouse. It had lasted long enough for Willows to find Jacob during one of his private moments with his boyfriend Damien Acacia, and had given a big slap all over the place. Of course, they had denounced the owner of the orphanage, but nobody did a thing. Nobody liked the orphans until they were working in the fields, and it was only because then they were considered useful for other people, for the peacekeepers, for the Capitol and for the rest of the District and Panem. Orphans only were useful when they were producing food or objects for far luckier people, people with money, but more importantly, people with family, people with friends, people with someone to love.

At least she had Jacob with her. Since both of them were found in the fields one day when he was two and when she was a baby, they had being tight as blood and united like grapes of the same branch. And papers too, quite literally, since they had been registered as blood brothers in the Justice Building, which would have served if someone, if someone just had wanted to adopt them at some point in their goddamn lives.

Something that didn´t happen. It was mainly her fault to begin with, since she hadn´t been the most civilized and proper girl for the standard, or didn´t know she had to act when people came to see children with the prospect of adopting them, even knew what acting meant at the time. She had Jacob, and she had a pretty cool bed there in her opinion, she didn´t know she would want anything else at the moment.

But she did, because when she saw other people with their parents or tutors, be it night or day, elderly or younger, she knew that what other people had is what she truly wanted, what she truly desired.

She remembers one time, when she didn´t know how to act or to do when someone who is an

adult came to see them, and they immediately wanted Jacob to be their new son. The women were so happy to have their chance of having a family like everyone else did, so damn happy.

Except Jacob wanted to take her with them, but they didn´t want her. They were repulsed by her, they thought she was useless, a piece of garbage laying around decomposing itself, waiting for someone to throw to the ocean, only for her to do what it does, damage others.

But Jacob stood alongside her, and wanted her to come with him to their possible new home, to be everything they needed for each other.

In response the women adopted another kid, but it didn´t matter. Because that that showed her something, something she will remember till the day she dies.

No gets between her and her brother. No one

* * *

Jacob was happy where he was.

Sure, his parents weren't there as well, but at least he got to spend with his Damien. It was something that didn´t always happen, so he got to be thankful for that. He liked being with him, kissing him and getting to cuddle with him. He never thought he would have anyone to do that, bar Jadee when one of them was upset and they had to support one another to keep themselves together. It was something hard to do, since they had no one but themselves at the moment, but he now had Damien. He had someone who loved him, even if he didn´t always show it. Yeah, he was a bit aloof and a little bit too enigmatic with his way of thinking and doing things, but it was just his way of living due to how he was raised, since he was rich but also albino, two things that aren´t seen in a good manner in the outer districts, especially in a district like District Eleven. He is always trying to be better and to improve, and when it doesn´t work he lashes out at himself for not being good enough.

But he is there for him; he is there when he feels alone in his riches or when he doesn't have anyone to share his time with. He is there for when one of their family members is in great danger, and they all want to start crying in the inside, but he knows he can´t do that. He knows he has to be strong, he knows has to be it for everyone else, their savior.

That´s why he loves him so much, because he is someone he can rely on. And of course, if they ever get married, he and Jadee will be filled with riches till the end of their lives, since they seem to be infinite and powerless towards expanding themselves.

Though, sometimes it seemed like Pepper and Robyn Acacia didn´t like that his son was "getting around" with one of the orphans of the district. They made passive-aggressive comments that Jacob had come to understand and rebut with the help of Damien.

He was his teacher in so many ways, and he was glad to have one, so he didn´t end up disoriented like Jadee was. That didn´t mean he didn´t love his sister, no. She was his world, and he wanted to protect her at all costs, but she seems she has already grown up so fast, so quickly. It seems like yesterday was the day where both of them where still infants, and they were inseparable.

What happens is that he is afraid of ending up like her. She is hell of a woman, that´s for sure, but she also doens´t have anyone but Jacob, and it seems she is too dependent on him to continue living. He thinks that if he were to disappear for some reason, Jadee would probably end her life pretty damn quickly or at least try to escape the district.

That´s why he needs Damien. He needs other people in his life to help him move on for the fact that his past is a mystery, and that he never had any parents, to make him forget that if he were to die barely anyone would miss him. He needs to stop thinking about that, he needs to put his mind somewhere else, but he doens´t know where.

But right now, he better enjoy his meal with his boyfriend. He better focus on the present rather than the past or the future.

That way, everything would be okay.

* * *

**Hope You all liked the chapter! Make the tributes come our way and we can make more!**


	5. Notice

To the ones that have already submitted, we do not need more sibling pairs. Make a parent, an aunt, an uncle, a cousin, or an stepfather. We have too many brothers and sisters over here

* * *

_What´s to come, _

_what´s to bear_

_what is the secret_

_that lays in this lair_


	6. Ten: Meddling Cousins

**Micah Allsbury (16) D10M**

* * *

Like any other year, Reaping time was coming up. People never forgot about it and never forgot the hour and minute it began. This year, though, Reaping day loomed more in most people's heads than it did some years. This year, if I was Reaped, I would have to bring in a family member. I was an unlucky person, as far as being Reaped went. If I got Reaped, I didn't have a dirtbag to bring with me. My entire family was great. Normally a blessing, but for one day, and for one day only, a curse. I just had to hope it wasn't a dangerous curse.

Like any other year, Kerry went with me to the Reapings. My best friend for as long as I could be bothered to remember, Kerry was my age, so we could always be in the same spot together. We chatted about our existential questions, both of us partially wanting answers while also partially wanting to outdo the other. Kerry was awesome. He was at least as smart as I was, very possibly smarter, and he could match me in any question. I was always on my toes around him, which was why I loved talking to him. It was good to be around people I could learn from.

"Is there life out there?" I asked, knowing we had asked it before. "Intelligent life, outside of Earth? I don't often think about it. If it's not been discovered yet, it's unlikely. Still, I can't help but question it." I was trying to kill time and stop Kerry from thinking while I gathered my thoughts. He would do the same, sure, but I would have to be better at it.

Like any other year, the escort made a huge deal out of pulling the name out of the Reaping bowl - singular this year, as boys and girls were mixed. She fished around for a long time, leaving everyone holding their breath and praying to nobody in particular that it wouldn't be their name pulled. I wasn't entirely worried. Worrying wouldn't change whether I was Reaped. Still, I found myself subconsciously crossing my fingers.

For the first and last time in my life, my name was called out, ringing loud and clear. I had no idea what to do. I was supposed to be logical and realistic, but that was easier to do when I was thinking clearly, not in a panic, something that rarely happened to me. I was a regular boy who liked to speculate about life, not death. My monkey brain, as I liked to call it, wanted to shake and cry. My logical brain told me that was a terrible idea. I froze instead, a happy medium between being stoic and breaking down. It took me a long time to walk to the stage, but that was all fine and dandy. I needed time to decide which family member got to fight to the death with me.

* * *

**Maurie Stanford (22) D10Chosen**

* * *

It was Tuesday morning, simultaneously the best and worst time of the week. The good news was that I got to spends hours of the day with my dad, a great guy who loved me like his entire world, who I loved back just as much. The bad news was that I was taking him to physical therapy, meaning I'd not only have to watch my father struggle, but I'd have to deal with a bunch of people I wasn't ready to put on a show for. They wanted me happy, and I wanted to be sad, but I wasn't going to break with my father watching.

"Hello, Ms. Angus!" I called out brightly, waving to the lovely elderly lady waiting for me on the street. It was, after all, Tuesday, my day to help her cross. It was nothing official, of course, but I would help her as much as she needed. It was nothing much to let her hold onto my arm while I crossed the street, even if I was pushing my father in a wheelchair. Especially when that lady was Ms. Angus, who always gave me a caramel and let me be sad near her. I didn't need the caramel, but Micah would love it. I did need the emotional support, even if it was only for a couple of seconds.

"Hello, Ms. Crocker!" I said to the doctor when I reached the hospital. She was a friend of the family, quite used to my generally happy disposition. We got a discount on our therapy due to our connections, which was wonderful. Even with everyone in the household working to pay the bills, it was hard to feed ourselves, our father, and pay extra bills monthly. Her discounts were a lifesaver.

Hello, sadness, I said to no one, sitting outside of the hospital room while my dad tried to do physical therapy. I didn't think it would ever help. He didn't seem to be making any progress, and I wasn't sure how much progress he was trying to make. He was still mourning Mom, even though it had been most of my life since she died. The stroke seemed to make it worse for him. Even if he was trying his hardest, what could be done when a brain stopped working? There was little hope left for my only parent.

"Hello, Mr. Smith!" I said to the nurse, pretending not to be crying and forcing a smile. It was what Dad would want. It was what everyone expected. I could smile for as long as I needed if it would keep my family in high spirits, if it would keep us getting discounts and being everyone's friend. I could smile through hell or high waters, which I already had. Nothing was going to break my fake smile. Nothing was going to break my carefully kept exterior.

* * *

**Hey, we have just been wondering if it is okay in your opinion to have pre-bloodbaths deaths. just that**


	7. Three: Angry Father and Smart Son

**Xaran Lith (17) D3M**

* * *

It was a test in math, something nobody in my class was really worried about. We were Three kids, after all. Math was everyone's strong suit. Maybe three people in the entire District ever questioned themselves, unless they were in advanced Three math, which I wasn't. I maybe could have been, but it wouldn't have been an A class, and my parents wouldn't risk my four-point-oh over me not being bored out of my mind in school. My future wasn't worth the risk that I might actually be happy now.

_What is sinA+sinB? _the test started with, for some reason. I could feel the kids around me shaking their heads. We were all in the back row, the "smart kid row", as some kids had lovingly deemed it. The class had smart kids in the back, because we needed the least help out of all the class, and dumb kids in the front, where they could get as much help as they needed from the teacher. Only a few kids needed to be in the front row, but a lot of kids were forced into it, just because other kids were considered smarter. The front row was a mark of shame I had never felt.

_sinA+sinB=2sin((A+B)/2)cos((a-b)/2), _I wrote easily, not even having to stop to think. Then I took a turn for the odd, doing something no kid usually did. I itched my leg, pulling the pants up to look at the notes I had written there, hidden underneath the fabric where no teacher would bother to look. I didn't get screened anyways; nobody would ever expect me to cheat. I didn't have to, for one thing, and I wouldn't risk my permanent record being tainted by cheating, or so most teachers thought. They were right about the first half. I didn't need the notes. I just wanted to prove to myself that I wasn't always a perfect rule-follower.

I had most of the book written on me in various places. The collar of my shirt, underneath my fingernails, a piece of paper I wrote notes on, laminated, and pretended to be chewing like bubble gum. I needed none of them. I didn't write down what I might have needed specifically because I didn't want to actually cheat. I had been forced into it, taunted by Xylia, my troublemaker sister. She said I never did anything wild, never did anything crazy. "You couldn't write one note in class, could you?" she had taunted, and I had fell for it. I always fell for her, just because I liked to make her happy.

Only one person handed in their test before I did. That was usual. I wasn't the top of my class in anything, I was just up there. High, but never quite the best. I had to make sure not to be first this time. Even if I had been first, I wouldn't have turned it in. That could have gotten me noticed. I wasn't going to risk that. It was my first time cheating on a test, and I wasn't going to mess it up.

* * *

**Parter Lith (40) D3Chosen**

* * *

I had just gotten a phone call. Pulled myself out of work, forced to go home to take care of my idiot daughter, Xylia. She wasn't supposed to be dumb. She could easily have been the top of her class. She wasn't dumb at all, mentally. She just was in personality. She could have been whatever she wanted to be, and she chose to be a troublemaker. Our family couldn't afford that. Our family could only afford perfection.

"Your daughter got into another fight," the teachers had said to me, condescendingly. Of course she had. She liked to do things like that. She didn't understand that there were real world consequences, that she wouldn't be able to get a job in the future. She didn't understand that the world stank and her childhood would definitely come back to haunt her. She just knew that she liked to fight random kids, for no reason other than that she could and that she liked to throw wrenches in my plans. I couldn't stand it. I couldn't hate a child of my own, but I sure could hate her actions.

"Look, Dad, the kid had it coming to him! He called me a slut, for no reason, which isn't that bad of an insult, but it's annoying. And he insulted you, and he insulted Mom, and he even went after Xaran!" she said, trying to convince me not to be mad at her, not to ground her for a month. If my wife had been called instead of me, it might have been a week. But I was the one who got called, so she wasn't only being punished for the fight. She was also being punished for cutting my paycheck down for the week.

"I don't care," I replied, telling the honest truth. I didn't care why she fought. She shouldn't have been doing it. She didn't deserve more of an explanation than that. The world was tough. She would learn about it one way or another, and it would stick a lot more quickly if she learned it herself. She couldn't learn from my mistakes, from me being an innocent child just to grow up and have to do backbreaking, boring work day after day just because I couldn't do anything better. She'd have to learn on her own, because I had given up on trying to teach her.

"Well you should," she shot back, storming into the room she was supposed to be inside anyways. And I let her. Helena could talk to her later if she wanted. Helena cared about Xylia. I stopped sometime in the past. She wasn't the perfection we needed. She wasn't going to get us a good paycheck or a better life. She was going to get us called home from work, forced to give up what little we had to take care of her. She deserved the angry looks she got. She deserved to be grounded. She was making this crud life worse than it had to be.


	8. Twelve: Creep

**_WARNING: PEDOPHILIAC THOUGHTS. BE WARNED. _**

* * *

**_District Twelve_**

* * *

Hans has been having these thoughts again.

Usually when this happens he calls Xander to help him process it, but he can do that here. No, not at Shauna´s birthday, with her little sister at her knee, trying to get up and punch a walk like if she was SuperSnow.

He didn't even want to be there. He told Shouna that they weren´t really friends after putting up excuse after excuse on why he couldn´t come, saying he was busy while she knew he actually wasn't, doing everything on his power to not to go to her birthday.

And this was not technically even a birthday party, no. This was more like a family reunion with him on the side, since Shouna had no other friends to invite and she needed someone to present her parents to not look like a complete outcast at school in front of her entire family.

And, well, he was the chosen one to perform that task.

He didn't want to be seen as someone who did someone all dirty work for them, but with Shouna following him around at school, fueled by her anxiety, neediness, clinginess and sensitiveness, something must was bound to happen.

And now he is stuck here, in a carnival's festival of sorts. A medieval fare of doom, somewhere he doesn´t belong, somewhere he shouldn´t be more than in a general space, and that is a lot to say and think to him, even for himself.

He doesn´t want to see those kids running around the house, playing musketeers and peacekeepers, thieves and heroes, all the things those kiddos do when they are young and full of brightness and spirit.

Because, as you can see, Hans is a firm believer than the younger someone is, the better.

And he hates himself for it. He hates himself for his thoughts, his actions derived from his thoughts, he wishes he dies.

He sees himself usually in a waiting room at a doctor´s when the nurse calls him in, but he enters and talks about his problems, the person who was turned around in chair facing to the door not looking at him, turns around and all he sees is he, the devil in harm's way.

He sees the figure, covered in red, the red of the blood of the children he had thought of. And then the evil goes into him and he wakes up and starts crying, and he doesn´t cry for his momma or for his poppa, who are both dead. He doesn´t cries for his sister, who is married and having a kid.

No, he cries for the only person in the world who could understand him. Xander, his therapist, his brother-in-law, but most of all, his friend, his companion, his true and only friend.

Xander knows there is something wrong with him, but for some reason keeps helping. Maybe it is a hero complex, maybe he is just as crazy as he is. Hans doesn´t know.

What he does know is that he cares about him, and that is what matters.

"Could you help me? I don´t know where I am." he heard somewhere from bellow in a soft voice. Without looking, he responded.

"Get lost, kiddo."

* * *

Xander was always working, even at home.

Sometimes it was because there was an emergency with a patient and they needed help, or just someone to talk to in the moment. Other times it was because his friends and family were needing his help in the psychological level of life most people couldn´t understand or figure out.

This time, it was a bit of both, because Hans was there, moping his eyes out, waiting for somebody to comfort him. This was happening while his sister and Xander´s wife was there, not understanding the situation and not knowing what to do.

He was looking for way to calm him for a while, but this was going to be impossible with what Akira was doing.

"DON´T EVER SCARE ME AGAIN LIKE THAT! YOU HEAR ME HANS!?" If Xander were to tell someone else the situation or what was happening there, which, for the record, he wouldn´t, he would do it like this:

Hans was a boy who was ill in some ways, and his illness can take many forms. The most known one is the sexual one, but there are others, like cutting himself (which Hans had tried to hide until today), going out alone to nowhere, being a general masochist in general, and hating himself so much to think he should die and his remains should be cremated again after being burnt for the first time. Those were all things they talked in his sessions with him, which were preciously private and Xander wouldn´t dare to divulge.

This day, Hans had been off the house for a while longer than usual, and it had worried Akira a lot. He was not actually; in fact he was as calm as a rock. He just needed live on and continue the ride on with life, because he surely comes up later down the road of the living.

And he did, but beaten up, robbed, and naked. Apparently some kids have lured into a trap and stole everything he had, including his clothes.

"Are you okay now, brother? Did they hurt you?" And now she was back on soft mode, for goodness, this woman could be so beautiful in so many ways, but dysfunctional in others.

"They…They cut me here, in my arms," Hans said, clearly showing them what Xander already knew were cuts he made to himself to process his self-hatred. Obviously, he was taking advantage of this horrible situation and doing something good about it.

"Oh no. We must report this to the police!" Akira was always the hero, always the savior. Xander loved that about her.

"No, no it is fine. It won´t repeat again. And besides, what would the peacekeepers even do? Mock him? Say why couldn´t I do anything while they beat up, knowing if I did they would put me in prison? No, that´s a no for me."

Clearly, Xander thought, Hans was a smart man.

A very young intelligent man indeed he is.

* * *

**We still need the tributes for D6, D7, D8! So go submit! All those spots are open!**


	9. Nine: The Worst of the Best

**_District Nine_**

* * *

Amsterdam just wanted to have some fun

He was here on the fields, working his ass off, doing everything he could to support the family, his mother and his brother. Specifically Paris´s political life, which was bound to have cracks there and over the place.

It was possible for Amsterdam to feel sorry for himself at times. After all, his brother and mother were always talking down on him, saying he could do things with his life, "important things", and not be just some dirty old farmer like his father, someone who just sits on grass and speaks to the land while he drinks cider and cider all the day.

He gets their point of views. Obviously if you want the chance to earn more money. you do have to study everything you can to be supposedly better in life, to be somebody your mom would be proud of and not just a ragtag bunch of misfits, like his girlfriend Michelle, his best friend Jacob Miller and everyone in between. He doesn´t want anyone destroying that life, the one he has as of right now. He is happy as it is and he wouldn´t change it for anything of the world.

The only thing he hates is work, which at the end just ends up reminding him of home, where there are his mother and brother to judge for every action he takes as if he were the devil, the ultimate evil waiting to appear in the mainstream song that lurks in our minds.

He, as he finishes the last few things left to do in the fields and leaves them to meet his friends, knows he is making the right decision about everything. Sure, he sometimes feels as if he were an emptiness because his brother always hands back insults to him at every point of his life, but that´s just life. He doesn´t really care about what Paris has to say about him; what would Jasmine would think of him he keeps living as a simple farmer and doesn´t study? He really doesn´t care.

And he doesn´t want to hate them either. They are his family, so why would he? There is no more thought to give to that.

He and his family are just what they are to each other, and what they will always be. There is no point in trying to change that

So, as he exits the fields and gives them one more look before going off to wander into the day, he knows only one thing

Today is going to be a good day.

* * *

Paris is ready to get this over with.

He thinks he has been always ready for it, though. The campaign, the logistics, the pain and pleasure of the political suffering of life, he loves it. He lives through it and by it. It is everything he has ever wanted, and it is awesome.

That´s why he needs to put his plan on the full-on mode and complete the task he was given by the universe.

To ruin Quill´s reputation and to make the home he calls the school his own country, to make it better.

It is weird to say that out loud, though. It isn´t something mostly manageable with words, with spoken language, but with actions.

Like lying, saying that Quill Paterson is a racist, homophobic, rapist son of a bitch who prefers his girls to be asleep when they do the activity usually known as "doing it."

Like paying a girl to have her say all bad things about Paterson and everything he represents, the enemy, the evil, the darkness brought out inside out to Paris, something new that is actually something old he didn´t know he had.

He feels selfish about doing so, but he knows it is a feeling that will eventually pass. He doesn´t truly care about what people might think or do about Quill (District Nine is known for its communal lynches for absolutely no logical and practical reason). He just cares about the morals implications it has, and truly nothing else.

He is above everyone else and he knows it. Obviously, he knows that the Capitol has more power and control than he does, but inside Nine, there is nothing to stop him. The school is his safe haven, and his playground and everyone there are his toys.

Not in a sociopathic way, no. He means in a desirable and thoughtful way, where he was supposed to think and make his movements before his opponents tackle him to his death. He knows better than that.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Had his best friend Kai Rozuto asked him not long ago about the subject? If he was going to be honest, he was always to be ready for this. He had always needed to live like this, in this way, and this was a way of assuring that.

So, obviously, his answer had been:

"Is the devil on fire? Because you might get a new emo outcast in a matter of days."

* * *

**Are you excited about this story? Cause we are.**

**We would like to thank everyone who has been reviewing so far. You make us feel so good and that is great.**

**And also, there is a new SYOT going on in this site called _Absolution_, from Idalove2read. It is about the 13th hunger games, and it is well written. You should go submit there if you want to read a good story or just check it out!**

**-_Santiago and Silver_**


	10. Four: They Grow Up So Fast

_**District Four**_

* * *

**Calais "Cal" Nott (16) D4M**

"Catty! Catty, you'll never guess what happened today," I yelled to my best friend, sliding towards her in my socks. We were on wood, so it was only natural that I was sliding everywhere I could, even going so far as to lend Catty, who had worn sandals, a pair of socks, so she could slide, too. Neither of us had thought far enough ahead to realize that sandals may have been a bad choice for her, but it was fine. We had found a solution, and that was all that really mattered.

"What?" Catty replied, her tone saying she knew good and well it was going to be something stupid. Did I care what the President said? Did I care about the Quarter Quell? Was there a chance I'd be Reaped? No. Important things were boring, and I couldn't be bothered with thinking about anything that was a week away. I was thinking about Mack, who told me all about Catty - and only said things that were good.

"You know Mack, the total jock?" I started, knowing it would get Catty tense. I wanted to see her squirm for a second, wondering what her crush could have said about her. "He _totally _likes you. I'm not sure if he wanted me to tell you or not, but I told you now, and that's kinda his fault for not specifying. Anyways, I totally support it. He said he likes your personality and your laugh, and he didn't mention your body once." I had a quiet relationship with anyone Catty liked, watching them to make sure they weren't being creeps. Someone had to be a filter, and it wasn't going to be Catty.

"You're kidding. You have got to be lying. You're messing with me!" Catty said, stopping everything to stare at me in amazement. I just shook my head, my smile bigger than hers was. It was awesome to see Catty being so excited, even if Dad would say that was a small happiness. Dad was serious, wanting me to be serious, even if he cracked up sometimes. I was not, which he put up with a little. A little.

"You know I wouldn't kid about this. Anything else is fair game, but I wouldn't kid about Mack. Especially not about him being an actually good guy. I ain't letting you date anyone that isn't totally perfect!" I smothered my smile for long enough to get a few sentences out before letting my grin take back over. Catty was laughing into her shirt, talking to me about how to talk to Mack, and I was doing my best to listen. There was little I could do to listen. I was too happy seeing Catty be the happiest she had been in weeks.

* * *

**Atticus Nott (45) D4Chosen**

"I hear Catty's got her eye on someone," I said to Nate, looking up from the net I was patching. He had offered to help me when it snapped, and I knew the world well enough not to reject the offer. "Didn't think your daughter was looking around so much yet. He a good guy?" I didn't want to say too much. There was no point in risking offending somebody. But I knew Catty was pretty young, and she could easily make a series of dumb decisions. Cal was like that, too, and neither of them were good influences.

"Hrmph," Nate replied, not even looking up from the knot he was trying. I felt every emotion he was portraying through that easily. Cal wasn't looking for a significant other yet. I didn't even know if he would look for a boyfriend or a girlfriend, not that it mattered. I just had to know which gender to start giving the evil eye. Still, I could feel the touch of fear that came with a kid finding someone they wanted to date. There was a chance their heart would get broken. The world was rough enough without that.

"It's gonna be fine. I've heard good things about Mack's parents," I said, my response fitting the right mold. I could have easily insulted him. He was a dumb jock. I could have poured praise on him. He was a strong kid. Instead, I went for the safe response: His parents were nice. A kid with good parents usually ended up being a good kid. "Besides. Nobody would hurt someone in your family. You're a big guy."

"Hrmph," Nate said again, though this time I saw his knot-tying slow. His face seemed filled with pain, and I stopped talking for a second. He would open up when he was ready. We tied knots for a while for a couple of minutes, silence dripping between us, before Nate continued. "She was four just yesterday, wasn't she? She's my little girl."

I nodded understandingly when Nate drifted off. He was right. Just a second ago, our kids were our babies, not wild teens looking for a chance to get away. I remembered my teenage years, and they filled me with fear for my child. I had gotten drunk. I had had wild sex. It was only a matter of time before Cal started making his fair share of bad decisions, leaving me to feel the pain when he got hurt. "She always will be. They're always babies to us," was all I could get out. They would always be our precious young ones, no matter what happened to them.

* * *

**Hey there, this my birthday present to you! (well it is my birthday today, not yours, and it was written by Silver, but you get the point, right?)**

_**-Santiago**_

**And also, we are finally full! We are so glad about that topic becoming closed so we can come on with the games storyline already in our minds. **

**We will bring you more chapters soon! **

**-_Silver_**


	11. Seven: Blue

**_District Seven_**

* * *

**Caprium "Cap" Fael (13) D7M**

Silence surrounded me. Behind me, there was nothing but forest. It surrounded me, engulfing me on every edge. There was no wind, leaving me without the sounds of rustling leaves or grass. In front of me, there was nothing but forest... and the fawn that was standing fifteen feet ahead of me, staring at me while I stared at it. Neither of us were moving, neither of us letting ourselves twitch. It didn't want to die. I didn't want to scare it off. Luckily for me, I was used to the silence.

Little by little, the deer approached me. Its head stayed low to the ground, its eyes tightly focused on me, but it moseyed over to me and delicately sniffed my hand. I let it, the ache in my hand from resting weight on it multiplying a hundred-fold once I realized I couldn't move it anymore. That was nothing I couldn't deal with. That deer wouldn't approach me again. I was getting a once-in-a-lifetime experience, and I wasn't going to pass it up just because I got a cramp.

I sat there, staring at the fawn, for what must have been ten minutes. It could have been hours. Time blurs in the woods, leaving you wildly guessing for what could be happening around you. The fawn and I had untensed, allowing me to rest my arm. It was bored of me, sniffing the area around me while I watched it, wishing there was someone I could show it to. I didn't have any friends with me, or any at all, but that was of no matter. I had a deer.

"Hey! What's up?" I heard someone call out. It made me flinch, watching as the deer tensed and ran away. "Why are you all the way out here? Weirdo," the voice continued. I didn't know who it was. It could have been anyone in the District. But it was definitely directed at me.

How do you respond to that? Do you react to the weirdo? Do you answer the question? I know what was up. I was with a deer. What is up? I don't know. Why am I all the way out here? I don't know, I don't know. What does he want me to say, huh? What does he need to hear? I couldn't guess what the voice expected as a response. I couldn't tell what society would have me say. I couldn't tell what was safe, or what wouldn't annoy him, or what wouldn't cause me to stutter. So I didn't say anything.

I got up and ran into the forest, knowing I'd have a story to tell Timber. He wouldn't yell at me. He wouldn't make me stutter. He would even appreciate the deer. That was all that I could ask for.

* * *

**Timber Hatchet (82) D7Chosen**

I watched Cap carefully when he walked into the room, able to see instantly that he had been hurt. Emotionally, I was glad to see, since I knew he and I could handle that together. The usual things were happening, nothing new. I waited patiently for him to begin speaking, knowing good and well that there was no reason for me to talk first. If he wanted help, then he could ask for it. Life was as easy as that.

"Grandpa? Nobody likes me," Cap finally said, remembering for what I hoped would be the last time that I wasn't going to just offer him help. He was thirteen. That was old enough to learn the importance of initiating conversation and talking to others, even if he really didn't like it.

"Nonsense," I replied, not having time for his exaggerations. He waited a few seconds before replying.

"What do you mean?"

"Nonsense." Again, we waited long seconds before any conversation continued. I was waiting to see if he'd figure it out on his own. He was waiting to see how long it would take me to break. The answer was a lot longer than he was willing to wait. We were both quietly challenging each other, him wanting more up-front love and me knowing that wasn't what he needed.

"I guess you like me. And Willow... kinda likes me. But two people isn't very many. I want more friends," Cap finally admitted, knowing that was the truth. It wasn't that he didn't have anyone. He didn't have enough people.

"Then get more friends. I know it's scary, but any friend who isn't willing to be friends with you despite the fact that you stutter sometimes, and you're pretty shy, isn't a real friend. They aren't friends with you; they're friends with the idea of you. And that's not something you need. You have to face a challenge and not back off due to fear. You can do it." I knew he could. Cap was braver than he thought, and he was an amazing kid. He just had a tendency to be dumb. "Now. What happened to you today?"

Cap easily went into a spiel about his day, and I listened with interest while he complained about the boy who scared away his fawn. It was a tragedy, really. There was no reason for a kid to be so mean to him, and there was no reason a kid should grow up with so little love that he didn't know that. There were so many tragedies in the world it was hard to focus on them all, but I could worry about the one the most important person in my life was facing.

* * *

**Timber's form says he swears, but I don't like writing swear words, so here we are! Nonsense.**

**-_Silver_**

**Hope you are having a nice July people! I will leave you this chapter right here. for you to enjoy! **

**-_Santiago_**


	12. Eight: Grief and Loss

_**District Eight**_

* * *

Lilith was going through a rough time.

Rowan was in the hospital because of their attempt. She didn´t want to cry, she didn´t want to feel bad, she didn´t want to feel as she would die before Rowan´s surgery stopped, but maybe it was going to happen anyways.

Maybe it was going to happen anyways. Maybe they were going to die anyways, and the surgery was just a moment in between. Like the room she was in alongside his parents and Poe, who couldn´t stop moving his legs for one goddamn second.

She wanted to yell at him, for the voices in her head telling her bad things would happen. She wanted to let them go, let them go outside and play with Poe, play with the screams she wanted to give and with voices she wanted others to receive.

She couldn´t be selfish in this moment, but she didn´t care. She was angry, she was upset, and she wanted everyone else to feel this way.

But she didn´t shout. She stayed still, waiting for the doctor to arrive, either with the news that Ro had died, or that they got another chance at life.

But would they want to live any longer? Would they feel at ease with death?

She hates that too. The prospect of being at peace with one´s death. She remembers all the tales her mother used to tell her when she was younger, about Noran, the man who wouldn´t grow up to be her father figure. She remembers a lot of what she was told, that she used to take care of her so much and take all the presents she liked.

She actually only remembers one thing, and she isn´t even sure if it a real memory as he died when she was three years old. A day when there was a fair back there on the only park in the district, one that was put there by administration rules to have a "green space" in the district. She calls that nuts, but that isn´t was she is thinking right now.

She is thinking about one of the few days she spent with her father before the heart took him away. She is thinking of the ice-cream they had, they only time could afford it, because it was coming from the cheapest place they could find.

She remembers the flavor of it. The tingling, sweet, sweet flavor of the cream and the brain freezing the ice gave her.

She doesn´t know why she is thinking all these things, but she can´t them place them really. She knows that nothing is really real, but she knows she wants it to be. She knows that as much as she knows she wants Rowan to live, she knows they will probably die. She knows she will probably never see them again, and if she does, they will be in a casket.

She knows it so much, and believes in it so much, that when the doctor comes and tells them they're alive, she cries for the first time.

* * *

Panima was going to have a rough time there.

She didn´t want to do it, and she almost didn´t. But today was going to be the only she would able to do it without anyone knowing, with Willis going to work all day and Lilith visiting Rowan at the hospital.

Today was the day to visit her. To visit Paolina.

She knew where to look for her; she was always there, and she knew it even though she never went to that zone of the district. The part where all the drug addicts, morphing users, and lit seekers are.

She was going to the streets, looking for a sign of her. The time when they had a fall-out was still impregnated on her mind, still leaving a mark all these years that had passed.

She still remembered her face, the face she made when she smiled, when she made her crack a smile. It was similar to the face Noran made too, but with him it wasn´t a matter of being able of seeing him or not because of a fight. It was a matter of death.

She still thought of him every day, even the times she was Willis, hugging him or kissing him good morning. Every time she did that, there was a part of her that thought that by doing that she was betraying him, betraying the love she had by having an alive one by her side.

But what mattered the most was the daughter, and it will always be. That was she married him at the start, and even though she ended up loving him at the end, it was keeps propelling her marriage to him. She sometimes didn´t want to admit it, but she knew that was the truth.

She continued rambling in her head, and looking for the person she had been looking for a long time, when her eyes landed on a building on the line.

_**TAYLOR´S NEST FOR THE HOPELESSNESS**_

She remembers going there to visit her so many years ago, after they fought for a stupid reason she can´t quite yet remember.

She goes inside, only to find the place a mess. Drunken people fighting drugged people, bottles next to needles, everything you can find or think you would find in D6, it is there. It was a like a tour of what D8 could be if it wasn´t for the stricter peacekeepers and overprotective mothers.

She asks a woman, she doesn't know her name, but she can tell her where the person she is looking for is.

She walks some stairs, more inside, the place getting darker and less smooth every second. She walks and looks for her, like a maniac on a train, until she finds her.

She goes up to her and lets her speak first.

"Well, well, if it isn´t goodie old shoes Panima running back home. What do you want?"

She only thinks a second to respond

"Hi, sister"

* * *

**Hi, i am gonna leave this chapter right here for you guys!. Hope you guys like it. We have one more introductions finished and have two more left to write, but i think that for now this will be okay. **

_**-Santiago**_


	13. Six: Happy High

**_District Six_**

* * *

**Mercy Solozzo (14) D6F**

I danced around the kitchen, humming a tune to myself while grabbing spices to put into my dish. Mom always liked to have everything all prepared while she cooked, making sure every ingredient was in a polite row, but I preferred to find things as I went. Sometimes the recipe wasn't perfect, and it was fun to discover bits and pieces of flavor as I went along, twirling between cupboards and the fridge, finding whatever happened to be in reach while I baked. I knew I needed a lot of spices, since I was making a spice cake, but I could decide freely which spices I used.

Still spinning a little, I sprinkled a pinch of cinnamon into the batter, then a touch of nutmeg. I sniffed my concoction, pleased that it smelled delicious, and threw it into the oven, sitting down on the counter after setting the timer. The stove was old-fashioned, as was everything in the decades-old house. It was huge, which I was grateful for, but it was outdated, having been passed down the family tree for generations. If I could have changed anything about it, it would have been to get a newer heating system, then a newer stove, and a newer fridge. Our whole baking system needed to be revamped.

Spices still on my hands, I pulled my recorder out of my skirt pocket, needing to kill thirty long minutes before the cake was done. I couldn't hang out with Nona, since she was hosting her weekly knitting session. Mom was busy cleaning, Dad was plotting how to more efficiently oil cars, and Petra was playing with the other boys. Uncle Jim and Uncle Ford were arguing politics, like they always were, so I was left to write myself a new song, pulling out notes as I went. Nothing was set in stone in music any more than it was in baking. Sure, things could turn out terrible, but they usually didn't.

A ding from the kitchen pulled me out of my tune, a long rest taking place between the notes. I hopped up and pulled the cake out of the oven, remembering to put on oven mitts without a second to spare, and sniffed it again, my mouth watering at the aroma. Grandma would definitely love the cake, and all of her knitting friends would like it, too.

Stalking up the steps, I put the cake on the table all the elderly women were sitting around, pretending I didn't smell anything funny or see the red-rimmed eyes of Grandma's friends. I looked at her herb garden, poking at the leaves, before speaking up.

"Some of these would taste really nice in my next cake," I finally said, eyeing the plants. "I should try them sometime."

"Mercy, we've been through this. You can use my herbs when you're older. Until then, I am not getting into trouble for you," Grandma scolded me, not giving me a chance to explain myself.

"They'll make me more creative! Let me bake a disgusting cake and enjoy it!" I pleaded.

"You don't need to be any more creative. If you are, you'll be painting the walls! I wouldn't mind something new, but we both know we can't afford that much paint. Go downstairs now, and don't tell your mother. Our session is almost over."

* * *

**Striga "Nona" Solozzo (71) D6Chosen**

Carmine looked down at me over her glasses, using every inch of her long nose to be extra condescending. "Let the kid have some weed. It's not like you have any right to be the one to tell her otherwise," she said, her voice almost sad sounding. She sounded tired of everything, which I didn't like.

"Good young ladies shouldn't do drugs. It's not good for her to be off her rocker at any time," I replied, knowing it was true despite the fog covering my brain. Mercy's mother would hate me if I let her do drugs. If she found out I was letting Mercy do drugs, she'd investigate my harmless little garden, and we'd be all out of drugs for good. I might even end up in jail. That was all a big no.

"Striga, you are literally on drugs right now," Chevy piped up, though her words were as slurred as mine. Most of my friends wanted to let Mercy try things out. They said things like "She has to experiment" and "She's going to do it somehow." They were wrong.

"I'm not good, young, or a lady," I retorted, wincing as I poked myself with my knitting needle. All of the above were correct. I was seventy-one, a rebel, and wild. I believed in equal everything, letting love win, not war, and having a bit too many flowers everywhere. No one in their right mind would call me a lady, and most people who weren't in their right mind wouldn't.

"She's got you there!" Rari said, cracking up as she spoke. I may have overloaded the brownies a little, but I was fine with that. Nobody in the group was below sixty-five. We were all retired and far past our prime. We could make as many bad decisions as we wanted, as long as we weren't too loud about it. Nobody suspected that I, a sweet little granny who liked to bake tarts, was growing weed and poppies in our upstairs garden.

"I still say you let her try some. She's only... like... four years? from being an adult. On average, if you add her to the group, she'd be an adult. So we're all adults here. Just only give her a little. None of these!" Carmine finally said, and part of me saw her logic. If we added her to the group, we would still average over eighteen. We really were all adults.

And I really, really wanted some of Mercy's spice cake.


	14. Five: Lost Words

_**District Five**_

* * *

Tucker is having a good time

Sure, it is reaping day, and someone will be sent to death like every other year, this special time with a family member to put the cream on the cake, but that doesn´t matter right now.

He is going to have a good day no matter what.

"So, did you kiss her or not?" asked one of "twined", what he calls his two best friends who are twins", to the other one.

"Shut up Marcus, you know that shit is way too complicated for me to explain. You know i my braces have been put on yesterday, don´t you live with me?" Said the other one. For Tucker, they looked exactly the same, even after all these years of knowing them and being their friend.

"Yeah, but I want to know. Did you smooch? Did you kiss a tree? Was it romantic? Tell me!" Probably the only way to difference Marcus of Denver was to talk about one of three things

Romance, like it is happening right now. Tucker sure accepted the talks about romance and all, but as he had already accepted that he would never have sex with anyone in his life, he would probably never be able to experience romance, even if he did wanted to be able to hold somebody like in those movies from the Capitol.

Sex, which Tucker, like it was said before, was disgusted by.

And Tucker´s hot mom, which Denver always wanted to talk about, before getting punched in the face by Tucker while Marcus laughed in the background.

And that was getting tired of this topics, which had been the only topics in this ten minutes that had passed in the meeting. He wanted something else, something different, a different spark to light shinning in the dark.

In his mind, obviously, the light was him and the dark the moment or moments where everyone else in the room wasn´t talking about him.

So what could he do to gain the favor of those he loved?

Obviously, cause mayhem.

He grabbed a pan, and threw it out of the window. He saw it hit someone, but before that person could retaliate, the fourteen-year old closed the window.

When he looked inside again, the twins´ jaws were in awe. Yes, just what i wanted.

"What did you do that for?" asked Denver in his shocked voice

"Now you are looking at me. I think that´s enough said."

"But you could have hurt someone!" said Marcus faster than Tucker or Denver could comprehend. They anyways understood where he was going.

"And I did. Anyways, why are you worried about it at all? Last week at school you threw Europa and Quinton´s stuff into the garbage without they knowing for humiliating you three weeks ago. Why so sad?"

Marcus, looked at Denver profoundly, and Tucker knew.

"Oh please, neither of you will get reaped. You are both fourteen-year-olds with three slips each, while i have ten. In fact if anything bad happens, it will be on the stage".

He couldn´t have been more correct.

* * *

"...Tucker Galvani! Tucker Galvani is this year´s tribute for the Hunger Games! Could Tucker Galvani come up to the stage, please. Thank you."

Athos could not feel more stupid in this very moment.

He had to be stuck in this district, with this lunatic woman´s high pitch annoying him more than any criminal that didn´t want his ass off in jail to be known to have been there, and tried to escape.

He could execute them afterwards after re-capturing him, but he couldn´t execute this district´s escort for some stupid games laws or something. He is still awaiting his time of being ascended on charge and being on District One, the Capitol, or even his own home, District Two.

Or maybe he will never get ascended, but at this moment he doesn´t care about as he hears his friend say.

"Poor kid. I think he is daughter of Clemence Galvani. Don´t you know her? She is quiet well known in the district for being the babysitter for the mayor´s kids. Good family, kid´s a little bit of a hard case of attention-seeker, but good anyways."

And it was indeed something like that. He did know them, more the mother than the child per se. He and her had had a special night almost fifteen years ago, and nothing else had come out of it. He had also seen the child lurk around the day, doing random stuff with his two buddies that looked the same, but he paid them as much attention as the next man or woman that passed right beside him.

Well, time to take him to the stage if the kid doesn´t move.

The adolescent doesn´t want to move, so he, Julius, Stone and Athena had to move him to the stage as he squirms as he calls for his momma, who will only suffer as him today except some miracle happens or the kid finds a loophole or something.

The boy is the stage and is speechless. Not in tears as Athos expected, which is good for the child, but still, he is just a weak fourteen-year-old with absolutely no skill. He will probably die in the bloodbath, in the hands on a young would have been Athos that did get selected by the academy to go into the games.

He sees her, Clemence, the poor woman go up the stage when the boy screams. "My father!"

Everyone holds still for one second. He knows and everyone known the kid grew up without a dad, so what is he trying to say? Does he have a stepdad to chose?

"I chose my biological father" says the child again. So the man must be alive. But who could it be there, leaving that child parentless and not taking caring of him all these years.

"Dude, didn´t you, like, banged him mom like fourteen years?" says Julius, always the smartass

Then it all comes to his head, and one word comes out.

"Darn it"


	15. Two: Matthias and his Flowers

_**District Two**_

* * *

Aias was feeling exhausted.

He didn´t want to feel this way, but what could he do about it? He was stuck training and training until the Quell announcement. The training center was a nice place to be in, but it didn´t stop him from feeling tired from time to time.

And now was one of those times. He was too wholesomely incomplete, he needed his other half. The person who understood him no matter what he did and no matter what happened had his back at all times.

And as he turned around, she appeared out of nowhere in front of him like if she was a fairy and he was her prince, needing her help at all costs.

"Hi, dumbass," she said as punched his stomach.

His brain had to stop for a few seconds because of the pain, but it was okay. She was his sister and she was allowed to do certain things other people weren´t allowed to do.

"Look who is talking, weren´t you picking flowers the other day like the true softie you are, ugly princess?" said Aias with all the wit he had.

He then received another punch, this time on the right shoulder. That one didn't hurt as much, but it still did, even if he didn't want to admit to anyone, even him.

"How has your day been? Have you broken Terrance´s record on sprinting, or went to the swimming pool with Matthias? Also, if you have seen Anais, don´t tell her it was me who threw all of her clothes into the incinerator of the Academy. She deserves it after doing the same to me when I was seven."

As much he wanted to hear about all the things his dear sister had to say to him, he didn´t have time for that. His mind was somewhere else, spending a fair amount of time thinking on Matthias´ abs, the ones he will be never able to touch in the way he wanted, his shining friend who was better at everything than him, than everyone else he knew really. He was a god, and he was his servant, his worker and adorer, and he wouldn´t stop being any time soon.

Though, he did also miss Christina. Oh, Christy, the girl who had actually fallen in love with him, something he thought never would happen with anyone in his life towards him. It was fantastic and weird at the same time. Mainly because it had started as a way of his parents to try to "pray the gay away" out of him. It wasn´t because they were homophobic though, they just thought in their misguided way, that he was going to turn into a trans person and wouldn´t be able to send him and Aisha both into the games.

Okay, it was a bit homophobic, but he loved his parents anyways. They were always right about everything, they had put him together with Christy until she got reaped, made him the best in training, and made him the best overall.

What could they even do wrong?

* * *

Aisha wasn´t feeling satisfied

Sure she was one of the best athletes of the districts and one of their best trainees, but nothing much. At the end of the day she was a girl, a normal girl from District Two.

Sure, she was one of the children of the Captain of the Peacekeeper Academy with the most important of the newly reinstalled Career Academy in the district. But that didn´t mean her wasn´t a normal girl.

A normal girl with a brother who she always had to take care of. A normal girl with a best friend who her brother desired, seemingly not giving a damn about her own feeling towards Matthias. A girl with another best friend, this one long gone and dead Two parents, who seemed to care more about their son´s sexuality in a district where sexuality didn´t matter to people her age much, and a rival who is better than her in every way possible and who had made her life impossible since she had met her at school.

Yes, she was a very normal girl. A very normal girl indeed.

A very normal girl, who every day, wakes up, knowing there would be an argument between her parents about her brother, about how he is and if he is acting "strange", an argument which she had to barge in to make it stop and make them finish with their whispering stuff.

A girl, which has to, every day, take care of everyone else´s messes. The times her brother got involved with guys in places where their parents might see them and her and her brother harm at the end.

The times she had to hide her own feelings for Matthias while Aias was talking about him constantly, and constantly, every single day, as if he was ever going to get him. He knew he was hetero, so how could he think he could ever get him? Those moments were the ones that made her want to yell at her brother so much, punch him in the heart and leave to bleed out.

_No, I don´t want that, _she thought afterwards. She just wanted her brother to listen to her for a fucking moment, to reason with her for a second and calm down his delusions.

But now, he didn't want that, he wanted to keep being in his own world.

And so Aisha went up to pick up flowers to relax. The fields and gardens of Matthias´s mother were always the most calming place she knew, and she went there. She knew the games were coming up, and that the training, while recently established, would find to send two semi-trained tributes to the games, even if not with volunteers. Maybe they would rig the reapings she didn´t know, but she wanted to stay with the flowers. The flowers were all that mattered her in that moment where she just was drinking tea, with Matthias slipping over her mind the flowers made everything beautiful.

Maybe that´s why when she was chosen by her brother, all she could think were his eyes, Matthias beautiful eyes, and the flowers beneath his arms.

* * *

**And this is the last of the reapings, now coming up into the Capitol chapters! Here we go, people!**

**-Santiago**


	16. Train Rides: You Too

Between the walls of the control center, Roman watched everything.

Well, not everything. He couldn´t watch what his wife Caligula had been doing with their waiter at the bathroom the other day, or what things his son Hadrius had broken a hours ago, and has blamed on their dog Citrius. He couldn´t watch all of it, but he could watch everything that happened to the tributes this year inside the Capitol´s facilities.

Like the trains.

So, there he was, in front of the screens, imprinting his mind with their faces. The tributes, the escorts and the mentors, all riding the ride towards the sun, towards the place they might all burn in.

His mind was now focused on the D1 pair, who was having a discussion, while their mentors were drunk as fuck.

"Why did you volunteer Logan?" Kaj asked his brother in the most proper way. Why hadn´t he asked his brother why he was going to volunteer, or the fact that he didn´t know that he was going to volunteer interested Roman.

It was obvious on Logan´s eyes that he was up to something, but it wasn´t possible to know what yet. Kaj hadn´t figured out what it was yet as it seemed, but Logan´s plan was evolving and continuing his way on.

"I... just wanted to have the glory of the games... And didn´t seem to think it through... I forgot about the reapings having a special twist... Dumb me i guess." Logan said smartly. Roman started as Kaj hugged the poor guy.

And laughed more and more as Logan smirked to the camera and Kaj was hugging, in his thoughts still the innocent brother he was when they were younger.

Roman´s eyes then passed onto the District Eight train, where the girl who was reaped was screaming in her room, and had already thrown some stuff out of the window.

Some knocks have come to the door, and Lilith knew that it wasn´t the dumb escort or the useless mentor. She told her mother to come in and she sat on her bed, while Lilith walked around the room, in anger and despair.

"I see you have made yourself at home here", she told to her daughter, even though she knew it wasn´t what she needed to hear, just doing it to humor her at trying to make her be happy for one goddamn second.

"Why are you so calm?", said the daughter. "I hadn´t seen you relaxed in such a way since you got that massage from Willis a few months ago, and- oh shit, now I am getting myself disgusted with that thought, ugh" she continued, disgusted with the thoughts that had come into her mind.

Her mother just sighed.

"You think I am calmed right now? I am screaming in the inside, I want to throw myself out of this train and just be done with it, done with these fucking games I am being thrown at! I want to yell so much, but I can´t, and you are just sitting there like a rat, trashing this place down."

Lilith just stared at her, surprised, shocked at her mother´s response.

"So now, sorry I yelled, but can we go to see the recaps, the two of us together, so we can make a plan so you can win the ga-

"No! I won´t let you give up mom. We can win this together. I know we can. "

At in that moment, Roman felt something in his stomach. It was a nasty feeling he hadn´t felt before, and would never want to feel again towards someone of the districts. He felta mixture of sadness and repulsion, towards whom, he doesn´t know. He just felt it and wanted it to stop.

Panima looked away from her daughter for a few seconds and then looked back to her face, into her eyes.

"Of course. But you have to know that I might not get out ali-

"Don´t say that, mom! Don´t give up before starting!"

Panima looked down on the floor for a seconds, or at least that´s what Roman could see from the cameras that were hidden there.

"Okay, we can do this" She said with the fakest of smiles.

Then they both went to watch the reapings recaps

Meanwhile, as Roman saw another district´s tributes be in a mess. These were the District Twelve one, and while he was watching, he couldn´t help but grin at how the reaped boy was having a panic attack.

Ha, take that district scum.

Hans was there, rocking himself back and forth, with the strength and speed of cheetah and with the desperation of a deer running away from that cheetah.

And Xander was just there, watching him, not knowing what to do with him, with his brother-in-law, the desperation turning contagious in the atmosphere and drowning him, over and over again.

So, in Roman´s mind, the man in the screen did the only reasonable thing;

He slapped Hans right on the cheeks. Roman felt no pity in this case, since he knew kids need to be punished or come to their senses somehow, and Xander was doing the right thing for him.

"Hans, i am sorry i had to do that, but we need to focus right now. One of us needs to come home, we can´t leave Akira behind no more with a baby on the way. We just can´t."

Hans, still shaking from the anxiety he had and the impact of the slap, could only weakly respond

"O-okay. I think I ca-an do-o this" he said while cleaning his shirt of the water of his cries.

And he got up and went to see the reapings recap

Roman then turned on the camera of the bathroom of the escort of D1, really fancy and all with all their curves on the bath, but something else was happening in the District Nine train, as it could be seen on the cameras.

"Emmm... are you okay, brother?" Amsterdam asked to Paris, while the latter was in the bathroom.

"Hmmmm, yeah, i am hmmmmm fine."

"You don´t sound fine, do you need help"

He tries to open the door, but even though that was indecent, Paris had been smart enough to lock it.

"Oh come Paris, if you shitted your clothes like you used to do when you were ten it´s okay."

The escort, Claymidia, who even though she had a horrible name had a nice upbringing but not manners, laughed her ass off as she passed through.

"¡SHUT UP DUMB DAM!" obviously yelled, who else but Paris Drapper.

The younger sibling stayed on the bathroom for a while, doing who knows what. But, if you changed the camera H1 to camera BH1, you would be able to see him working on the notepad he had gotten from their mentor and writing, and writing and writing about the other tributes´ reactions and possible alliances.

_District One - The guy who volunteered is up to something, I know he is. The boy that went along with him, who i think is his brother, seems too perfect to be true._

_District Two - I think they are both to lost causes for some reason. _

_District Three - The father seemed angry about being chosen than glad that his wife and daughter were safe. Seems like a prick. _

_District Four - Not much too say about them really. _

_District Five - The controversy was too much to analyze the tributes, but the older one seems strong. I mean, duh, he is a peacekeeper_

_District Six - Bloodbaths bait_

_District Seven - Bloodbaths bait again, but more strongly_

_District Eight - The girl seems strong, but the woman seems weak. I would put them both in the top 15. _

_District Ten - Seems like one of the strongest districts this year. Again, the elder one will make it further_

_District Eleven - So many bloodbath baits_

_District Twelve - The boy is a bloodbath, but the elder can even make it to the Top Five in my opinion_

_Now, who shall i ally with?_

Roman could have seen it all, if he wasn´t too busy seeing Jadee throw stuff everywhere.

"I FUCKING HATE THIS AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH"

"Jadee, calm down, please, and have some food..." said the escort while trying to dodge the coming forces of Jadee´s stuff.

"I fucking hate you all!" She said while crying and crying, shouting and shouting.

"Ugh, Jacob, i need your help here!" called Saffron Weltron.

Jacob got out of his room to find the dining room completely trashed and destroyed

"It was Jadee, right?" he asked Saffron, who was cleaning up the mess slowly with the help of avoxes.

"Just go make her calm down, please i beg you"

And so the next moment he found himself in front of Jadee´s room, where she was fighting back angry tears from the back of her eyes.

"Just go away Saffron, i told you i don´t want anything to do with you", said the poor girl

"I am not Saffron, Jadee. I´m Ja-" And then he was met by a hug, a sweet, tight hug from his dear sister.

"I fucking hate you, you know that?"

"Yes, i do. But i guess we have each other's backs" And when she let go, he playfully punched her on the arm.

She punched him on the stomach in return.

Tucker and Athos, meanwhile, as Roman could see from the camera recordings, hadn´t spoken to each other since boarding the train.

Athos had a stern look on his face. He seemed ready for what was coming.

Tucker, not so much, but he still seemed determined to go back home from the talks he had been having with their mentors, who saw in them both an advantage. While this quell was made to basically destroy the victor mentally from losing part of their family in front of them.

They didn´t like each other much, or even knew the bare simple of the other´s background, or it was easier to say they would be glad in losing the other.

While Roman worked during night, he watched and watched, and they continued without talking to each other. While boarding, during dinner, at midnight while neither of them could sleep, probably thinking they wouldn´t see the people from where they are from ever again if they lose. They didn´t speak and didn´t want to.

It was the next day morning when they did. They were preparing to get out of the train when Athos said the words, while looking at his biological son;

"Hope you try your best"

And Tucker could only respond

"Yeah, you too"

And then Roman feel sleep, quite quiet like a deer


	17. The Chariot Rides: Magic Letter

_**Mercy Solozzo (14) D6F**_

* * *

Lanzina looked up at me, chatting almost to herself about my look. "Nice hair, skin tone..." I heard her mutter before her Capitolite accent and quiet tone stopped me from understanding anything. I looked at the makeup behind her, mostly, noting little bits and pieces. We couldn't afford makeup much at home, but I knew how much I liked a small touch of concealer now and then, hiding any small outbreaks, and a touch of highlighter to touch up my cheekbones. Everything behind Lanzina seemed much fancier than we could afford, and I knew I had to take my shot.

"Could I play with your makeup?" I asked quietly, not exactly knowing how to better phrase it. "Like... can I see what I'd like for myself?" I figured Lanzina would say no, knowing she knew more about makeup than I did, but instead, she nodded.

"Let me take your measurements real quick and I'll get right to work on finishing up your outfit! You can put on... three layers, okay? After that it gets hard for even Capitolite things to easily remove the makeup," Lanzina replied, motioning for me to put my arms up so she could get my waist. I did as I was instructed, happy for a bit of freedom when my whole outfit was about to be decided for me.

I reached for a dark green eye-shadow before stopping myself, putting on a bit of foundation everywhere it was needed first. I wouldn't have known what to do with it, but there was a label. Then I put on my selected eye-shadow, complimenting it with black eyeliner and mascara. The makeup felt heavy on my face, but I liked the shield it provided between me and the rest of the Capitol. I threw on some red lipstick, too, and a bit of blush. I knew it likely didn't look good, but I wanted to keep putting on more and more, not letting the Capitol see any bit of me. I was suddenly overwhelmed by shyness, and I hoped the makeup would help it.

When Lanzina turned around, she looked me up and down for a quick second before shrugging. "Oddly enough, it actually mostly works with your outfit," she said, gesturing for me to turn around. I did, and she unbraided my hair, letting it down before curling it. I let her do it easily enough, happy that I got to keep the shield I made.

Holding up the costume, Lanzina had me undress. I didn't want to. I wasn't getting dressed again. She held out a dark blue miniskirt and a white button-up blouse with a little red necktie. It would hardly cover my butt at all, but there wasn't really anything I could do about it. Just focus on the makeup, I reminded myself. Pretend they can't see you. They can't see your face.

* * *

_**Micah Allsbury (16) D10M**_

* * *

A butcher costume. Creative, I thought, climbing onto the chariot beside Micah. I was sure there would be worse costumes - there always were - but I had to wonder how people with so little creativity got hired by the Capitol. People would die for a job as a stylist. People would kill for one. Yet people still ended up as the "sexy cow" or the "sexy tree," as if the Capitol had no idea as to what was a sexual object and what wasn't. Maybe it really doesn't, I thought, but that was a more horrifying idea than the Games themselves.

I looked around at the other tributes while I was on the Parade, not sure exactly how I was supposed to hold myself. The Nines and Elevens were doing their best to smile and wave, though Jadee didn't seem to know exactly what she was doing. I could barely see the Ones at the front, trying their best to look strong and stoic in their awful diamond costumes. I suddenly feel much better about being a butcher. Still, I wasn't sure what to do. I could act strong, ready to take on the world. I was probably big enough for the Capitol to buy into it. Or I could act like super friendly, smiling at waving at everyone. Would they be more likely to believe that?

Are you ready to lose who you are to gain your life? A part of me wondered. Putting on a face for the Parade wasn't too big of a deal, but I knew that was a dangerous mindset. One face led to another, which led to a "harmless" lie, and slowly becoming a fake version of who you're supposed to be. I didn't want to risk that, but I also really didn't want to die at sixteen. Is living a fake life better than losing the real one?

Annoyed at my lack of certainty, I went for the classic "smile and nod." It would keep a bit of me in it, and it let me be attractive to the Capitol. I tried not to focus on how much of myself I could be giving up, instead looking at the other Districts. Two got to be super cool ninjas, while Three were the cliche mad scientists. Four was butt-ugly fishermen, fitting in well with Five's factory workers and Six's... flight attendants? Seven was the first one I saw that was actually truly creative; Cap and Timber were orcs, with full special-effects, making their noses turned up and their hands all gnarly. Eight just seemed to be wearing dresses.

Before I could finish taking in everything that was around me, before I could process the lights and the noise and all the bright, glaring colors, I heard a clatter behind me. Maurie had dropped his cleaver, and he was trying to wipe some of the blood off his outfit. "I'm not a murderer," he said quietly to himself. "They can't make me one, no matter how hard they try."

I prayed he was right.

* * *

_**Maurie Stafford (22) D10Chosen (Male)**_

* * *

When I got off the chariot, I was preparing to be immediately shot. When I wasn't, I started looking around, trying to find good ways to start conversation. I didn't want to become a killer, but I was willing to become a bit of a strategist, especially if it came at a possible gain for Micah. He didn't deserve to die any more than I deserved to be the one he chose to drag into the mess.

Plastering on my best fake smile, I walked over to Paris and Amsterdam, trying to look like their outfits were hilariously relatable. Micah had asked me to be our ambassador, picking out allies he thought would be good for us, and I was willing to do that. Admittedly, I did tend to look happier and friendlier. Micah could come off as clingy or awkward, even though he was a great kid. It was just hard for him to make first impressions.

"Looks like both Nine and Ten got some crummy outfits this year, huh?" I said, my feet slightly spread apart, my hands on my hips. I knew what made an approachable look. I liked being friendly around Nine, and I needed to be liked to get all the favors and discounts physical therapists and hospitals gave me.

"I think ours is a little less fun," Amsterdam replied, smiling through his costume. I looked at his brother, waiting for a response, to see him putting on a smile just as fake as my own. I don't know why yours is fake, but mine's because it's a little hard to smile at the Games, and I could get murdered for my little rebellion at actually any second.

"Yeah, I'd have to agree with my brother!" Paris said, far too cheerily. I laughed, clapping Paris on the back. I was only a few years older, but it seemed like I would really be the dad of the group for them. I was totally fine with that. I was a leader at home, and it was a position I had grown used to. If it was necessary for me to keep my hold on it, I would. "This thing's gotta be more uncomfortable than sleeping on the ground."

"You know, we wouldn't necessarily have to sleep on the ground," I said, slipping in a "we" instead of a "you." "We could all work together, which would make it was easier to get supplies. Think that'd be nice?" I didn't want to be too blunt in offering an alliance; it would make me look fake. However, I couldn't beat around the bush. I only had so long before Paris broke his fake smile.

"That'd be great!" Paris replied, his smile stretching farther. I pretended he wasn't noticing my height and build, and he pretended the same. "Do you think we need more than four, though?"

I pointed at Parter Lith, who Micah was already talking to. "No worries. We've got that part figured out."


	18. Training Day One: Are you sure?

_**Training Day One**_

* * *

**_Kaj Van Diamanten, District One Chosen Tribute, (18)_**

* * *

"What do you mean you are not joining the alliance?" Logan asked his brother in surprise in the elevator of the Training Center.

Kaj had been listening to him talk about how great the careers seemed these years, about how hot the girl from two was, was her name Alisha? Lisa? Alys? He didn´t remember, actually, and he didn´t care, because he wasn´t going to join them. He had other plans...

"Hello, earth to Kaj, are you listening? Answer me goddamnit!"

That statement made Kaj come to his senses and finally wanting to answer his brother

"I just don´t want to. You know me; I am not the kind to want to actually have blood on my hands," he said, but only half-truly.

"Why on earth would you not want to join the careers? Kaj, I know you will be petty about your nails getting red, but you got to listen to me. The careers mean safety, and safety means going into the finale. We could go into the finale, and one of us could even win and go back home to mom and dad. Don´t you want that?"

Maybe I want something else, brother

But he didn´t say that. He just stepped out of the elevator when it arrived to the Training Hall. He seemed amazed at seeing that every district had arrived before them, and seen the District Two siblings talking with the father-son pair from Four.

But he had set on someone else, someone with dark eyes...

The main trainer, Izquierda, an old woman who still seemed like fitter than the better trainees back at District One, and who insisted on being called "Izzy", told them all about how all the training would go on. For the first task, they all pick a partner.

Before everyone could pick their own district partner, another instructor corrected her and told her they should pick two, and they couldn´t be from their own districts.

Everyone started protesting, but no one from the trainers heard a thing.

Kaj was quick to choose his partners for this activity. Well, one of them at least.

"Would you want to do this with me?" he said to dark eyes boy. He seemed so strong, so passionate in caring for the person related to him, so protective. All the characteristics Kaj had always wanted in Brent, but had never seen on him.

"Aren´t you a career?" said Darky, as he had been nicknamed by Kaj in his mind

He looked back on the trained tributes from District Two, Four, and Logan, arguing and looking back and forth "Not anymore... Not anymore"

"O-Okey. Who else should we pick for, well, this station" said the boy, like he didn´t know what axes were.

"Maybe the old man from District Seven knows something about these axes, or how we should throw them?"

And they went him with, of course, even though Kaj didn´t know his name either.

"Hey, old man, could you join us here?"

He then turned around and told them:

"On one condition, young man; You join our alliance"

"Our?" Kaj asked

The elder pointed to where three children, two boys and one girl where.

Kaj wondered what to do, if it was worth it at all allying with potential bloodbaths, but because of Darky he told Timber this:

"Sure thing, man"

* * *

**_Panima Ri-Yuen, District Eight Chosen Tribute (42)_**

* * *

Panima was worried

First, going to the Hunger Games. That didn´t need saying or telling anyone why it was worrying her so much.

Secondly, going to the Hunger Games with her daughter, knowing only one of them can survive. Again, this needn´t much saying either, except "Fuck the president" maybe.

But the third thing, that was a new one. The others? She had been dealing with them in the past days, and now she had been adjusting to them. But this, this was a new thing.

And she didn´t want it. She didn´t want to feel like if she was burning on hell, or to put it on another terms, be reminded of the sister she had back home.

And that old lady was so doing that to her with her weed.

The smell was inacceptable, and the smoke and mist created the woman were irritatingly familiar to Panima, and it way she hated it, but in others she loved it.

It was the smoke of her and sister smoking the cigarettes of their grandparents behind their dad´s back, even when it was late at night, and they went out, to the park or whatever, just to have a blast with what they could find.

Panima started to let tears out and cry a bit.

"Are you okay?" the woman smoking weed asked her, while their other companion focused on trying to make the bonfire have fire.

"Yes, yes, I just remembered my sister"

"Oh, I am sorry", said the younger guy doing the bonfire

"Oh, yeah, hmmm, I am sorry too," said the old lady.

Panima felt her face frown due to the lack of tact of the weed woman.

"Sorry if I seem too rude. I am like that when I am stoned... which is every time I am awake, but that fact that doesn´t matter," she said one moment and stopped to smoke again.

"Tells us more about your sister. What was she like before she died?" said the younger man.

"Well, she didn´t die, but I think she wishes I did, haha," Panima said, trying to lighten the mood, but the man only looked at her with curiosity and with smile that keep telling her you can trust this guy.

"Don´t deflect what I said, please. You don´t need to, you can trust me. I am a therapist. I know what I am doing"

"You probably have half the age I have."

"Since when has that stopped people from doing, inventing, or creating things? It shouldn´t stop me from helping you."

So, Panima proceeded to tell him the whole story. About how she and her sister loved each other so much, how they were always together, until one day, for one stupid reason, their relationship fell apart. She told him everything and she couldn´t stop. And she told him about her husband´s death, about her new one and her angst about it, about how she has always felt alone, utterly and disgustedly alone. It felt comfortable and weird at the same time, but she couldn´t stop, even with the other woman practically smoking weed on her face.

By the time she has going to start talking about Lilith, the lunch bell rang. And she couldn´t help but ask something to this gentleman.

"Would you like to sit with us, with me and my daughter?" she asked. Then she turned to where the smoke was coming from and said "You too can do it, if you want to"

The man hesitated for a moment, but when he turned his face back for a moment and saw his district partner and Lilith in the same station, he couldn´t help but say this.

"Sure."

And then the District Six woman said the same and lunch started

* * *

_**Amsterdam Drapper, District Nine Reaped Tribute, (18)**_

* * *

Amsterdam was confused.

Why did Paris wanted so many people allied with them? It was going to be fight to death with everyone else in the arena for the survival of the fittest, for the strongest, mentally and physically. Why did he want the opportunity to get attached to so many people?

He didn´t understand it, but apparently, he had to be the one to deal with the emotional consequences of it, because while Paris was focused on his notepad and making strategies for the group for the bloodbath, Dam was the one listening to all of their personal stories.

He now knew all of Micah´s questionings about life, all the answers he had and the ones he had missing. He knew the name of patients that Maurie had and had been attending back on District Ten, their illnesses and the pain of the families when some of them had died.

He too had heard the fights between Xaran and Parter. How the father had always attempted to make the son do things he didn´t want to, and how he had always attempted to punish him or blame him for his own anger.

In fact, he had actually consoled one Xaran after one of them, when they started talking about who of them should be the one to come home. In front of the entire alliance had they fought, and when Dam had gone with him to the bathroom, the District Three boy had started crying while they were peeing on the urinals.

And if we had to believe Amsterdam's look on this, it wasn´t a nice view to see while you were projecting residues of your body. Not at all.

So, when training had finished for the day, and every tribute had gone into their own floor on the Training Center, the District Nine boy could not help himself but ask this to his brother.

"Paris, are you sure about this alliance?"

The younger sibling then looked into Dam´s eyes. Eyes filled with determination and obstinateness.

"Look, we have to have allies. If we don´t, we are just as good as dead. But all together, we are a team, and the six of us can very well fight the careers. The sponsors will dig that up entirely, they will eat it up and before we know it, we will get out of the arena"

Amsterdam was about to ask his brother about the "we", but he stopped himself, he didn´t want to let his brother´s hopes down the lane, and even him had a bit of hope that the President would be kind and let two relatives win.

But he did tell him something else.

"You did see that there were other two alliances of six people down there today? Sure, they have smaller and weaker tributes, but are still six. And one of that ones have a career, and the Careers have a Peacekeeper instead that boy."

Don´t you understand that we might as well both die in the bloodbath, though, he didn´t say that. He wanted to, but he didn´t.

"Don´t worry, Dammy. I have a plan, you will see."

"But-"

"Dinner´s ready, come get some of this delicious food!" Claymidia yelled from the living room.

"Well, I guess our talk might have to stop here," said Paris grimly

"But-"

But it didn´t matter. Paris was hungry, and he had to admit it, so was he after a long day of work.

He had just to hope Paris was right this time

* * *

**Hi guys, hope you liked the chapter!**

**If you want to submit to other cool syots on this site, there is "Essence of the Divine", made by LordShiro, and "Betrayal: The Quain Games", by FrostyShadow. **

**See you soon!**

**-Santiago**


	19. Night Between: Dead Dreams

**_Night Between Training Days_**

* * *

_**Lilith Ri-Yuen, District Eight Reaped (18)**_

* * *

Lilith wasn´t sure of what was happening.

Or to be more clear, what her mother was supposed to be doing. Making this whole alliance was a bit extreme in her opinion. Sure, there were three other alliances made up of six people, but those were somewhat justifiable.

This mess of an alliance, it was without a good reason.

She didn´t understand why her mother had chosen to ally with such people, what had come to her mind that pushed her to do such a thing. They were fine on their own, just the two of them. Therapists, Smoking ladies and weird guys didn´t help at all. Maybe cute little girls did, but just for sponsors and nothing else.

She couldn´t really find a good reason to form an alliance with such people. Maybe if they had chosen, I don´t know, the boy from District One that separated from the careers, or the cousin pair from Ten, that would have made a bit of sense. They were strong, formidable, and could help them fight the careers, mutts or other tributes in general in the arena.

But no, her mother had to go and choose those kind of people, and she just couldn´t wrap her around _why, why had she done that?_

She couldn´t believe what was happening right under her eyes.

She had to stop her mom.

"Lovely tributes, the dinner has been served!" Their escort, Olivas, said, interrupting her thoughts.

At least this way, she would have an easy alternative to confront her mother about the situation.

She changed her clothes from the training outfit to more, casual clothes, which an avox laid up for her, and went there.

She was shocked to find what kind of food was laid out in front of her. Or at least what could be considered food, because it was a lot amount of stuff there up in the table. There were too many smells to know which one came from what. There were colors, red, blue, green, and pink. All covered up in different sauces, which gave them a different aroma.

She heard someone come in and instinctively just said "Mom, we need to talk"

In that instant though, something happened. She was more surprised to find something else. The window of the living room lead up to something she hadn´t noticed before. Buildings and buildings made up of what appeared to be glass, changing colors every second that went of the day, stood there right before her eyes.

She had always dreamed of being an architect, of designing and constructing buildings for the district she lived in, for the people she used to care for she was little.

Through the changes of time, though, she lived through what many called "puberty and adolescence", but what she calls "death of dreams". A time where kids lose their inspiration, their creativity, where they lose hope in their dreams and their faith in their idols. A time where you realize the truth about the world, the ugliness of it all.

But she hadn´t lost faith in her dream job, she hadn´t. She didn´t want to either.

So maybe that´s why when her mother asked her what she wanted to talk about as she sat down to eat, all she could think of was the buildings, the wonderful, colorful buildings.

* * *

_**Hans Miner, District Twelve Reaped (18)**_

* * *

Hans was anxious.

Well, that´s a way to put it. You could say at this time he was being emotional, sensitive, panicky, paranoid, self-deprecating and loathing, but anxious would sum it all.

Still, the most likely thing to say about him was that he was having a panic attack.

He was desperate. Yeah, that was the word. He was passing through the room he should be sleeping in, wondering, walking, walking and walking, even though it was smaller than it should be, due to the ratio of Walks vs Size.

But still, he couldn't stop himself. He couldn´t stop the movements he had to keep repeating in order to keep himself sane, to keep himself alive. He couldn´t really stop himself because at any minute he would succumb to his feelings.

At any moment he might grab a knife and stick it into his own throat. He obviously doesn´t want to do that, but he feels like he should.

"You are monster," he says now, looking himself into the mirror of his bathroom, "You should die."

He says these things to the man in the mirror, the man who he has always hated. The man always had those… feelings towards children, the man who has always had a tendency to run a blade through his veins in his arms due to his urges, the man who is sick having to live only to satisfy the needs of her sister, the need of having at least one relative alive.

"She wants a normal one," he says to monstrous person looking back at him, and he repeats his words. She wants a normal person to love her, but she has Xander. Xander is the one who should live, not him. He is the one who is going to be a father, someone who people actually like for who he is, not a beast.

"Stupid, stupid, stupid," he repeats over and over again, but know he isn´t sure who he is referring to. Maybe it´s to the universe, for making him this way after his parents died.

_God, I miss them, why can´t I see them again_, he thinks. He was a different person before they died. Before the mining explosion, and before her mother… did that, put her life to an end, right in front of him.

He can still feel the blood, the touch of it all, rushing to his body as he found on her in the bath, full of red water.

He can´t take it anymore. He has to do something about this.

He rushes to towards the kitchen, with the walk of a graceful feline, and grabs a knife.

And then he is there, about to do it.

_Do it Monster, Do it. You deserve it. _

He is about to plug the knife in, when he hears his savior.

"Hans?" Xander, oh Xander always there to save him.

"What the fuck do you want?" he yells. He doesn´t care anymore. He wants to die.

"Leave me alone", he continues.

"Oh… Hans look. You don´t have to do it."

"YES, I HAVE TO!" he screams. It doesn´t matter if the escort or Ashmira wakes up due to the noise. He is going to do it.

"Are you stressed about having to ally with Mercedes?" He says, like the angel he says.

"I…I DON´T KNOW! Maybe?".

"You don´t have to do it. Think about Akira and-"

"She is better off without me! I am monster!"

"No, seriously, think about her. And think about the Quell Twist. Do you have any idea what would happen if you decide to just do it?"

"I.." He is right. Myriad isn´t known for being merciful, even at this point of his age. He could bring a pregnant woman from District Twelve out of nowhere just because he had decided to cowardly end it all.

"Sorry if I was harsh. You can put the knife down Hans, okay?"

And he doesn´t know why, but does so, obediently. He puts it back on the table, and then he hugs his brother-in-law.

He hugs him, and he cries. He cries because he doesn´t want to die, because he doesn't want Xander or his sister and her baby to die, because he doesn´t want to do anything bad, and doesn´t want anything bad to happen to his allies. Hell, he doesn't want anything bad happening to Shouna either.

_You are coward_, his mind tells him. But he doesn't listen, because his tears, they are making him happy somehow.

Monsters don´t have emotions or guilt, right?

Maybe he is a human after all.

* * *

**_Tucker Galvani, District Five Reaped (14)_**

* * *

Tucker is feeling down on the low.

He can´t believe this is happening. He can´t believe what he is seeing through his very own eyes.

Apparently, the capitol has decided he will place 22th on the games.

_22th_, the placement repeats on his head. He had expected to be score low on the prediction, but not that low.

Hell, the only people behind him are Timber and the District Six woman, who are a _seventy-one woman and a fucking eighty-two year old man. _

He surveys the whole table, and he surprised by some placements and by others isn´t

_24__th__ Timber Hatchet. _

_23rd Striga Sollozo. _He is not surprised with these two. In fact, he had expected them to happen.

_22th Tucker Galvani. _He frowns upon seeing this on the repeat

_21st Caprium Fael. Hmmm, so Cap and Timber have different surnames_, he thinks. He doesn´t know what´s the story behind that and doesn´t care because he is too busy feelings sorry for himself because of the placements.

_20__th__ Mercedes Sollozo. _Again, not surprised, but actually angry that a girl weak like her is stealing his spotlight.

_19__TH__ Hans Miner. _This one actually surprised him. He thought that because he was eighteen he would turn up further on the list, but it appears, as it wasn´t possible for him to win.

_18__th__ Jacob Appleseed_. _Wow, Jacob is lower than Jadee. She must excited and angry at the same time. Kaj can´t be too happy about it, considering he followed Jacob around all day and called him "Darky"_

_17__th__ Micah Allsbury. _Angry and upset, Tucker throws a lamp into the TV, but misses and falls next to it. _I should have placed way higher than this guy! _

_16__th__ Panima Ri-Yuen. _This one he feels it is understandable.

_15__th__ Jadee Appleseed. _This time he throws a pencil, but it doesn´t break the TV.

Then, as the TV marks the District Three boy as 14th, the door opens abruptly.

"What is going on here?" Athos says, almost yelling. "It´s three AM in the morning and I want to sleep so I can train tomorrow better. "

"Shut the fuck up!" Tucker yells even louder in response, the TV showing this time the man of District Three as 13th.

"What did you say, boy?" the man in front of him says sternly.

"I…I said you can shut up!" he continues. "You are not my father; you can´t make do anything you want!"

The man sighs, and for moment a silver of pity runs through his eyes. Then anger shows up again. "It doesn't matter what you think of me," he says, while taking the remote of and turning the TV off. "Because you can be dead at any second now. A capitol man could show up here and shoot you because of a bet with another sponsor. There can be a crazy tribute that just has a vendetta against small District Five boys for all we know. Or you can get food poisoning due to Capitol food, or even a crazy accident due to a grotesque wardrobe malfunction or the Training Center. It could all go down in flames for all we care. So you better shut up and do as you are told, because you never know what might happen next."

Tucker doesn´t know why, but the next instant he feels tears running down his face in rivulets.

No, most likely rivers.

"Ugh, come on, don´t be a pussy."

But no, Tucker knows he isn´t a pussy. He is crying and he doesn´t know why, all he cares is that he feels like the life is been drained out of him and he feels like he is burning down to the ground, turning into fire, and then ashes.

Even though that isn´t literally happening, he feels like if it were.

And the next moment he feels someone hugging him. But that can´t be, because the only person here and awake is Athos, and he is…

He is hugging, holding him tight. It isn´t like father-son hug, but still, it feels like something. Like something he hadn´t experienced before. He doesn´t how to feel about it, so he just stays there, not hugging back, but still accepting the embrace of his biological father.

"I have an idea if it will calm you down and let me sleep today, or at least tomorrow."

"Wha…What is it?" Tucker says, cleaning off the remaining tears from his face.

"I know the guy guarding the training center. He told as a joke if I wanted to train at night, I would be able to with his help. I think I might able to convince him for real if you want to."

"Why would you help me?" the boy says sorrowfully. "Aren´t you with the careers?"

"Yeah, but spicing things a bit won´t damage anything." The older man tells him. "Do you want to? You can also tell your kiddo allies if you want."

He hesitates as to what to say next, but he finally decides.

"No."

"No?"

"No, they won´t want to have anything to do with you."

"Oh, okay, then if you want me to leave-"

"But…" He interrupts "You can help me."

A tired smile appears on Athos´s face.

"Well, then let´s go."

* * *

Hi, guys, hope you liked the chapter! See you soon!

-Santiago


	20. Training Day Two: My Career is to Kill

_**Training Day two **_

* * *

**_Calais Nott- District Four Reaped (16)_**

* * *

Dad kept saying we should make a strategy, but that wasn't the way I did things. Who were we going to strategize with, anyway? My mentor Sirena? That was rich. She couldn't even spell "strategy". And I wasn't being mean. There's nothing wrong with being dumb, necessarily. Some people are just dumb, and that's okay. There are more important things in life. She wasn't _wrong, _either. Out of all those people in her Arena, she was the one who was still alive. So maybe we _should _do this her way. And I was doing it her way- I was winging it.

"This is boring," I said to myself, and abandoned the spear station. I was okay with spears, I guess, but what is there to them? It's a pointy stick and you stick the pointy end at the other guy. It was fun for a few minutes but boring after a while. No use sitting around and listening to the attendant talk about how the right spear was a beautiful thing and it was all about balance and patience. _I _was _not _all about balance and patience.

_Well _that's _not right, _I thought when the bullwhip went sideways and almost hit my cheek. I'd used them before. I was even kind of good at them, I would say. I was just getting used to an actual high-quality bullwhip instead of the coarse ropes I was used to. This whip was balanced well and easy to aim. That was something I had to adjust to.

"Like this?" I asked the attendant.

"Pretty much. With your wrist," he said. I already knew that, but I wasn't going to be rude and say it.

"You're pretty good with that," Dad said. He'd spent a lot of the day wandering around and trying out different things, but he was still a dad, and he liked to be with his boy.

"You should try," I said.

"Oh, you wouldn't want to see that," he said, waving his hand. "I'm just an old sea dog."

"Try it!" I insisted, shoving the whip at him. He was the one who taught me, after all.

"All right, all right," he said. He hefted the whip in his hand to get its weight, then made one trial sweep with his arm. He squinted at the target, a wooden ball on top of a headless mannequin.

_CRACK!_

The ball sailed off the mannequin, smacking off the ground and rolling towards the wall.

"What was that?" I asked, smiling widely at how cool it had looked.

"I didn't teach you everything," he said.

* * *

**_Aias Wayne- District Two Reaped (17)_**

* * *

Careers were supposed to like the training days. We got to show off to all the others why they should be scared and pick out the ones we wanted to kill first. I didn't want any of that. It turned my stomach to think about killing some of those people. Sure, the other Careers, they were literally asking for it. But the ones who just got Reaped? Some of them were just kids. Some of their voices hadn't even dropped yet. Killing a fighter or someone who could at least fight back was one thing, but my god, a _grandmother? _That was why I was still up, so alte into the night.

The doorknob creaked and started to turn itself. If I was mostly awake before, I was entirely awake then. I snapped to a sitting position, swinging out of bed and looking for something to use as a weapon. _It's one of the other Careers, _I thought. _They're breaking in to kill me before the Games even start. _How could they do something so stupid? Even if they did somehow kill me, there was no way they wouldn't get caught.

A hand snaked around the door, and Aisha's face peeked in, her eyes big and wide.

"I had a bad dream," she said. She pushed the door open and came in.

My sister was so strong, but dreams get even the bravest of us. Or maybe it wasn't all _that bad,_and she just wanted some extra time before, well…

"Can you come stay with me a while?" she asked.

"Of course," I said. I unwound the blanket tangled on my leg and followed her to her room in my pajamas. She hadn't even asked why I was already up and wide awake. Even if we hadn't been twins, we were both Careers.

"It was so bad!" Aisha said as she sat on her bed. "I dreamed there were vampires everywhere and I went to find you and _you _were a vampire and then I woke up and went to your room and said I was so glad you weren't really a vampire and you said 'but I _am!" _

"Oh man, if I'd known that I so would have said that when you opened the door," I said.

"You _jerk!" _she said, and slugged my arm. She got under her covers and snuggled in. "Sing the song," she pleaded, with a fake pouty face.

"Ohhh, it's so _silly," _I said.

"It is _not," _she said. "Every word is true."

I rolled my eyes and sat on the bed.

"_Aisha is a special girl,aisha_

_ The strongest in the world_

_ We're so glad that she's our daughter_

_ We love her so so much_

_ She's the boldest and toughest_

_ No one can beat her_

_ She's also the cutest girl ever_

_ Our daughter Aisha is number one_

_ And someday the whole world will know"_

It wasn't the most modest song. But parents are like that. One or the other used to sing it every night when Aisha was little. Most kids get "too old" for that and tell their parents to stop. Our parents ended up cutting Aisha off at thirteen when _they _were getting embarrassed.

Aisha was pretending to be asleep when I reached the end. No one really falls asleep that fast. She was just giving me a way out. I turned out the light as I left.

_It really is true._

* * *

**_Aisha Wayne- District Two chosen (17)_**

* * *

Aias and I didn't really need to train. We'd already learned everything we were going to. Training now just ran the risk of an accidental injury that would ruin everything. So we just wandered around the room, observing the others. I learned that the girl from Eight was spending a lot of time at the survival stations, which meant we might want to take her out at the Bloodbath. That seemed contrary, but I didn't want to have to wait weeks for a Tribute to finally starve when they were hidden in a tree trunk eating slugs. I saw that the boy from Nine was pretty strong, like they sometimes were, but didn't seem to be invested in killing. There was a lot to gain from _not _training.

"Hey. It's Alice, right?"

I wrinkled my nose, hiding it before I turned around. The boys from One and Four were behind me. Of course, it was Logan who had spoken. Calais was actually a normal human being and _didn't _walk around antagonizing allies.

"Aisha. Like I told you when we met yesterday," I said.

"Right. Aisha," Logan said. Cal bent over the weapons table, pretending he was very interested in a throwing knife. He was blushing and obviously uncomfortable.

"Nice flower you got there. You going to wear one in the Arena?" Logan asked, smiling. It would have been a nice smile if the person under it wasn't so ugly.

"I might. If there are flowers in there, why not?" I said. If he wanted to peg me as a cute little pixie, let him. I didn't care about his opinion and I didn't value his insults.

"Gotta have your priorities, am I right?" Logan teased.

"Yup!" I said, my voice full of butterflies and rainbows. "And you know what else is a priority?"

"What?" Logan asked.

I wrapped my hand around a hatchet from the table behind me and whirled around, throwing it at the location I remembered the mannequin was at. I put all my heft into it, and when it sank into the top of the dummy's head, metal was visible on the other side.

"What I trained all these years for."

The butterflies had turned into steel. The air around me went cold and Logan dropped his smirk at the sudden shift. I turned my back and walked away, the flower bouncing in my hair.

* * *

_Hey guys, sorry for updating so late. We, Silver and I, have been having troubles lately, so we have decided to add more person to our team in case one of us can´t submit in a very long time. _

_Leave your guess of who is it bellow! And i also hope you liked the writing here. _

_-Santiago _


	21. Night Between Two: Just One More Day

_**Night Between Training Day Two and Three**_

* * *

_**Xaran Lith- District Three Reaped (16)**_

* * *

When I asked if we could talk to Dicha for a while, I thought he would be teaching us Games stuff. Instead, my father was doing most of the talking. I trusted him and all, but Dicha was the expert. I wanted to ask some questions, but I didn't want to interrupt.

"Statistically, half of Tributes killed by other Tributes die in the Bloodbath," Dicha said, when he could get a word in edgewise.

"We won't be going in," my father said. "We're not stupid."

"Good," Dicha said. "A lot of people don't think that way. After that, most Tributes are killed by natural causes. Starvation isn't usually a killer, but dehydration definitely is."

"How do we find water?" my father asked.

"There's always some source of water," Dicha said. "Sometimes there's just one, and it's guarded by Careers, but there's always something."

"Which is better, drinking dirty water or going without?"

Dicha and Dad both look at me, and I was embarrassed at the sudden silence. It was the first time I'd spoken since we got in. Even to me, it came out of nowhere. It was just something I'd always wondered. Drink dirty water and hope you can drink faster than it comes out, or keep looking?

"Every expert says something different," Dicha said. "I was lucky enough to be in an urban Arena and had access to filtered water. If it was me out there in the jungle, I think I would take the chance, but it's up to you."

Dicha looked up and to the side, the light bulb visibly going off in his head. "But maybe you can get around it. It won't be perfect, but a lot of things can be filtered out with everyday materials. If you can just get some sort of container, you can fill it with layers that will take out a lot of pathogens. I suggest experimenting during training. Put some dirty water in a bottle and pour it through different things. Or if you want to get really fancy, solar radiation kills a lot of germs. If you can get just an empty bottle, and they're closer to the platforms, fill it and leave it out for a few hours. It won't kill everything, but it's better than nothing."

See, this is why we should listen to Dicha, I thought, but I didn't say it to my father. What he just said could be the difference between life and death. So many Tributes died of dehydration or water-borne illnesses every year. The answer might be as simple as the sun.

"What about the Careers? Will they go after a father and son pair?" Dad asked.

Dicha shrugged. "Eventually," he said.

"I don't want any fights. How do we cover our trail so they can't track us?" Dad asked.

Dicha launched into some more strategy. I was listening, but not to every word. It was the casual sort of listening that let you remember while you also thought about other things. Of course I was thinking about fighting. I was a few weeks at most away from fighting someone who was actively trying to kill me. It was simultaneously heartbreaking and touching to know that for all his bluster, my father wouldn't be able to save me forever, but that for all his strictness, forever would only come after he died trying.

* * *

_**Atticus Nott, District Four Chosen (45)**_

* * *

_My Darling Moonshell,_

_I cannot smell the ocean where I am. I can't hear the seabirds, or the constant sound of the waves washing onto the shore. The air here is empty of salt, and the sunset is not doubled in its reflection in the waters. The Capitol is a series of empty absences, and worst of all is the absence of you. I cannot sleep in my half-empty bed. I put out my arm, and you are not under it. I love you more than I could have conceived of before we were married. I love you, Louise. I say your name just to hear the letters that bring you to mind. I think of you every hour, even though it hurts like mourning, because you are worth the ache._

_I am selfish, my love. I put Cal before myself, and will until the end, but in my heart I resent it. I love him enough to die, but I knew that someday, he would leave me. He would go and make his own life, but you, you are my life. You will never leave me. As life began to ebb, I wanted to spend my last years with you. I wanted to see how the sun would shine on your white hair just as beautifully as when it was dark, and how your hand was still warm in mine after we both were frail with age. Twenty-one years is not enough time to love you. It is unfair beyond reason to have found you and be denied these decades. I cannot bear it._

_How things have changed from when we met. I was young and stupid, chasing rebellion for the sole sake of being edgy. I would be dead now if I hadn't met you, and if I hadn't met you, I might as well be dead. As soon as I saw you, I was enthralled by your flashing eyes and your wonderful laugh. Real love didn't come until later, when I knew all of you. What had been a boy's infatuation became a man's devotion, and so I became a man. And I became yours. I am inextricable from you. You are everywhere in me like salt in the sea. I am better by a hundred parts from when I met you. You made me brave, and hardworking, and fierce, and dauntless, not because you wanted to change me for your betterment, but because I wanted to change for your betterment._

_It seems impossible to be apart from you. How can the sand be parted from the shore, or the water be parted from its wetness? It will not be forever, lover, though it seems so now. You know I will not return to you in this world, but I will find you again. If you find another, I will be glad for your happiness, and may he be better to you than I was. But if you don't, look for me, darling. When you see the moonshells, remember my name for you. When you are old, look in the mirror and know how beautiful I know you are. One day, our time will come. Night will come, and the light of evening will make a path on the water. Walk across it, and I will be waiting._

_Your lover and adorer,_

_Atticus_

* * *

_**Caprium Fael, District Seven Reaped (13)**_

* * *

I had just finished making a fire. It crackled weakly, just big enough to sustain itself. I was poking at it with a stick when I felt Grandpa's hand on my shoulder.

"Hey, Cap. What do you say we do a little exploring?"

We'd been training for days. We both know we weren't going to get much better. And Grandpa already had a lifetime of training, so he didn't even need this. He didn't have to ask me twice.

"I found something you might like," Grandpa said as we walked through the Games building, passing by staring Capitolite tourists. He led me to what looked like some sort of restaurant. It had tables, but no waiters, just a bunch of machines lining the walls.

"My grandfather used to go to one of these, back in the old days," he said. "I never got to one myself, but the pictures always looked fun."

I walked past the machines, reading the labels. They all had handles and were filled with colored globs. I reached for a handle curiously.

"Better not without a bowl, son," Grandpa said, handing me a paper bowl from a stack in a nook in the wall.

"What are they?" I asked.

"It's frozen yogurt. Like ice cream, but people pretend it's healthy," Grandpa said. He pulled a lever and brown stuff oozed out in a neat curl.

"A little birdie told me Tributes eat free," he said.

I clutched the bowl, running up and down to see all the flavors. There were thirty-two, and I took a tiny bit of each one. Then we went to the far end of the store, where there were containers of toppings. I added sprinkles, and candy sharks, and caramel sauce, and brownie bits.

"You know what? This is even better than the pictures," Grandpa said as we sat eating and watching people walk by.

As I was scraping the last from my bowl, I looked up and saw Grandpa looking at me. He looked older than I'd ever seen him. He was all sagged in the chair, like his shirt was really heavy.

"You're a good kid, Cal. I'm proud of you, and the man I know you'll be," he said, and it scared me. He said it so quiet. I was used to him yelling, and it was funny that he was scarier when he didn't. And it was scarier because I knew why he said it. I bent over the bowl, pretending to scoop some more out. That way I wouldn't have to answer, and he wouldn't see I was blinking at my tears.

* * *

_Hope you liked the chapter! And Reader got it right, it is LCS the third writer!_

_Maybe you will get a prize... Maybe..._

_-Santiago_


	22. Private Sessions: Pity and Expectations

_**Private Sessions and Training Scores**_

* * *

_**Logan Van Diamanten, District One Reaped (16)**_

* * *

_How did she not succumb to his advances? _

_Sure, he was being a little bit aggressive with his commentaries, but that´s the way he was. And people must like him the way he was. _

_After all, they were all careers here. They knew all but one of them was going to die, even if this quell made them related to one another in some way. _

_In ways he could take advantage of. In ways he could make Kaj cry and scream for help, like he had wanted to do all his childhood under his shadow. How he had made him feel. _

_At least now he was going to get… wait, is Kaj doing talking to his- well, to Aisha?_

_He can´t get into the alliance again, he can´t!_

_So, as to avoid this, Logan slowly goes and moves his way to be in front of them… while they are talking, and they look at him. _

_For a second, it appears as if they are looking at him the same way he looks at Kaj. The same way his parents look at him all the time, the way girls back home look at him when he tries to woo his way into their lives. The same way that other kids in playground used to look at him when he was five, when he tried to play with them, and they just threw sand at his face. _

_The same look he gives himself. _

"_What is it that you want?" she asks in a monotonous voice, like the boring voice she has every time they talk. The same tone that pierces his own soul with a knife to the throat, maybe the same that she throws the other day, just to prove him that he is wrong, that he is a worthless piece of crap and that he wouldn´t stand a chance against his brother. _

"_What it is that you want?" He asked them, all of his intent on his voice. "Shouldn´t you be with your allies, dear brother? And shouldn´t you be training somewhere else, dear Aisha?"_

"_First of all, don´t call me dear", Aisha responded "You haven´t earned the right to say that to me. Second of all, why do you care so much about what we are discussing here? It isn´t any of your business."_

"_Excuse me, gorgeous woman-_

"_What did you just call me?" There was a pause there, and Logan had feared he had ruined it all. _

"_HA!" It was all that came from Aisha´s mouth. _

_And in that moment, his heart shattered in pieces._

"_I see, you have been trying to flirt with me this whole time, but as you have a gay older brother, you can´t properly flirt with a woman without thinking in the ways your brother does with a guy. Ah, that so funny! I´m going to tell Aias, maybe he will laugh about it. AIAS, AIAS!"_

"_What, sister?" _

_And then she told him, and he laughed. They told Cal and Atticus and Athos, and they laughed. And they told the other tributes, their own prey, and they laughed as well. _

_The trainers, they did too. The Gamemakers, as well of course. You could even see the president in the distance._

_Everyone in Panem, capitolite or district person, they were laughing, even though they couldn´t see it. _

_And Logan had put his head to his knees and sat on the floor and rambling there till no more. _

_Kaj was above him, now, a sword in hand_

"_You will never be me, face it. You are just a loser who has the honor to carry my family name" he said, and in that and only that moment Logan saw the blue in Kaj´s eyes and as Kaj drove the sword into him, he could admit to himself what he was feeling at looking at them. _

_Fear. _

"WAKE UP! WAKE UP" the holographic alarm said.

_Ughhhh, what time is it? _

He looked at the alarm.

_6:00 AM, oh…. 6:00 AM GODDAMNIT! Gotta go train!_

He got up then and showered. He had breakfast with Kaj and their escort, and then they got into the elevator.

"Are you nervous for our third day of training, Logan?" Kaj asked. Logan looked into his deep blue ocean eyes and replied.

"Of course not"

* * *

_**Paris Drapper, District Nine Chosen (16)**_

* * *

Paris was distraught

He didn´t know what to do. He already had a strong alliance working out, and they were surely going to be a force to reckon with in the arena.

But that wasn´t going to impress the gamemakers. Sure, he had a bit social skills, charisma and intellect, but that didn't win the gamemaker´s favors.

He had got to do something else.

"What are you guys going to do for the sessions?" Micah asked, always being the thoughtful one of the group. They had gathered together to be called for them and as for now, the district eight mother was inside doing her things. Parter had decided to go back into his bedroom, while Xaran had decided to wait with them until the rest got called in.

"I am going to do some weaponry stuff, like with sickles and other things, like scythes." His brother told them, always so sure of himself and what he is going to accomplish in the future.

"I am, well, going to basically do the same, but with knives and maybe pull some weights around, " said Maurie, always the elusive one, the one that knows more than what he lets on and knows how to pull himself through.

"And if you are talking about me, I-I don´t know what I will do, honestly." Micah expressed.

"You certainly know that you will get high scores at least. I just did the plants test and ran around a bit" Xaran remarked. "And I think my dad just spared a trainer I think. Nothing cool honestly"

Hearing everyone else talk about what they were going to do stressed him out. It really bothered Paris, and he didn´t know what to do about it. What was he going to present to the gamemakers to show them he was rough, that he was worthy being a winning tribute? What could it be?

"What about you Paris? What-" his brother started saying, but got cut off by megaphone.

"Amsterdam Drapper, please come in for your private session" A monotonous voice repeated over and over again.

"Well, it is my turn. See you!" Amsterdam told them and went into the hall.

Paris was then left to his thoughts. What should he do? What _could_ he do? There must be something he could do to show he was worthy, but what? What were his skills, his talents, his pros?

_What?_

Then an idea came into his mind, and before he knew it, it was his turn to go in.

The place was calm, except for a mannequin totally destroyed. _Probably that disgusting District One boy. _But apart from that, it was very quiet. Even the gamemakers were quiet, at the expectation of getting shocked by what he was going to do.

But the time passed, and Paris just stood there, watching them with patient eyes.

And the gamemakers just sat there, expecting him to do something, anything, to at least _move, _a muscle or something.

But nothing.

"Are you going to show us something, Mr. Paris Drapper? Your brother was more cooperative than this, " some voice above came to his ear, but it was nothing. He was expecting this.

"I am here to make a deal with you. If you guys give an 8 or above, I will make a grand gesture for you and do as you told me in the arena. If not, well, I might even make it a bit _boring_ and you wouldn´t want that, would you? That could mean your head getting severed somewhere, Mister Head Gamemaker." He made a pause and then continued.

"It is a matter of trust. I will not show you my skills until you prove worthy of trust."

There was a murmur amongst the gamemakers, and they looked at him incredulously. However, Paris could see that they were internally debating on his offer.

"How can we know that you will suffice?" one of them put as an argument even as the others nodded.

Paris then walked away slowly to the exit and just said one thing.

"You can´t. You just have to trust"

* * *

_**Jacob Appleseed, District Eleven Chosen (15)**_

* * *

"Jacob, here they are, the scores!", his sister had come and said to him real quick, pointing in direction to the screen.

The interviewer, the Master of Ceremonies, Lorenzo Salas had appeared right before their eyes on screen. Their mentor, Mayalen, was looking at the two siblings she had to take care of before they went into battleground.

Before they fled into their eternal doom. Because even though Jacob was trying to appear tough, there was something in him that was cracking. That was trembling from beyond fear, and he didn´t want to acknowledge it.

Sure, in comparison with his sister, he seemed the less intense, more proper sibling, but there was something that was animalistic as well. Something radical, that he didn´t want to think about.

Because he had to keep face in front of Jadee. For her, for Damien, but most of all, for himself. If he wasn´t able to at least pretend everything was fine, how would he be able to take shape and form if he didn´t do as people thought he had to do?

He didn´t want to think so. He didn't want to think about himself, in fear, in anger. A full blast of emotion occurring right before his eyes, and stopping in his heart.

Beat... Beat... Beat... There it goes. Easy, no need to worry.

"JACOB CAN YOU PAY ATTENTION!" Well, Jadee is not in the mood. Though, was she ever happy? He didn´t know. He had seen her look at Caprium with different eyes than other people, but maybe it was just his older brother instincts.

Lorenzo Salas, had then started to talk, and it was the last thing Jacob wanted to hear about as he slowly realized.

"Hello, peasants. Today we are here in this glorious show of Panem to talk about the most important thing ever to happen on this year on this magnificent nation. What that could be, you ask me? Oh, well, i might as well go and said it.

"THE FRICKING HUNGER GAMES BITCHES. Tributes slowly tearing each other apart, mutts eating those who survive the initial fall, and hunger, oh yeah, that magnificent hunger than makes tributes cry and cry for their families, for their loved ones, for mercy that won´t ever be able to come.

"And those tears, oh _mamacita_, those lovely tears, that´s what we are here for, to hear about who has more chances to win this whole thing, and to become our personal slave."

"Let´s start with District One. Bethany, could you tell us more about how this started"

The camera focused on a woman with green hair, who seemed slightly disgusted at Lorenzo´s statements.

"Oh yeah, well hmmmmm. Oh, yes, the District One sibling pair did well, but slightly off for a career district. Logan Van Diamanten got an 8 for his brutal anger, and Kaj got a 9 for his amazing weapons skills." Jacob could hear the loud noises coming from the second floor.

"District Two. The same, the chosen one got an 9 and a 8 for the other one of the siblings"

"It seems like the ones who wanted to be here are doing as well as the people who they forced to come. Irony, am i right?" Lorenzo said like it was the best joke in the whole world.

"Hmmm, okay." Bethany continues. "District Three, Xaran Lilth with a score of 5, and his dad Parter, with a score of 6."

"District Four breaks the trend, with both tributes having an 8."

"District Five, however, goes back into it with Tucker Galvani having a score of 6, and Athos Flint with a score of 9."

"YES!" Jadee spoke, obviously, about their ally´s score, due to his odds on winning. But was that something to celebrate on, really?

"District Six, with Mercy Sollozo owning a score of 5, and Striga Sollozo, with a score of 2"

"How did an old lady like her score better than a 0? I don´t know, hahahaha," Lorenzo laughed at his own joke.

Bethany looked angrily at him and continued.

"District Seven. Caprium Fael with a score of 3, and Timber Hatchet with a score of 1."

Neither Jacob nor Jadee said anything about them. They just kept on looking at the screen.

"District Eight. Lilith Ri-Yuen with a score of 6, and her mother continuing on the inverse trend with a score of 5.

"District Nine. Amsterdam Drapper with a score of 6. Paris Drapper with a score of 8."

This wasn´t good, this wasn´t good at all. "F*cking hell" Jadee said.

"District Ten. Micah Allsbury with a score of 5. Maurie Stafford with a score of 7."

_Oh, here comes them. Please be better than a 4 please be better than a 4 for me and Jadee please…! _

"District Eleven. Jadee Appleseed with a score of 6, and Jacob with a score of 4."

_Oh no. _

"Finally, District Twelve, with Hans Miner with a score of 4 and Xander Bluelite having a score of 6."

He knew what his mission was now. It didn´t matter that Jadee was trying to console him instead of celebrating her own score. It didn´t matter because he wasn´t getting out alive of here.

But Jadee was. She was going to be alive and safe, and that´s all he cared about.

_If i am going down, at least someone will remember me if she is alive._

* * *

_Hey, i hope you have really liked the chapter! I really liked doing and i put a lot of thought into it. _

_Hope you review!_

_Alliances:_

_Attempt of Careers: Athos/Logan/Aias/Aisha/Calais/Atticus_

_"Stop Manipulating us Paris": Paris/Amsterdam/Xaran/Parter/Maurie/Micah_

_Caretakers and their children: Striga/Mercy/Lilith/Panima/Xander/Hans_

_Little kids, plus an old man and Kaj: Kaj/Timber/Caprium/Tucker/Jadee/Jacob_

_I have two questions for you all: _

_Who do you think will die in the bloodbath? (why?)_

_And who do you want will die in the bloodbath? (why)_

_I would say my answers, but i am the writer so... i can´t haha_

_-Santiago_


	23. Interviews Part 1: Glamour

_**Interviews Part 1**_

* * *

_**Parter Lith- District Three Chosen**_

* * *

I shifted in my chair, my skin prickling at the stiff suit I was wearing. Lorenzo Salas sat across from me, dressed in a hideous dark red suit. His sharp smirk was already annoying me, as was the gleam in his eye as he waited to insult me like he had my son. I couldn't think of what upbringing would make a man so bitter and warped that his favorite activity is tormenting terrified children.

"So, Parter, what makes you think you have a chance to win the Games?" Lorenzo asked.

"Xaran and I will be protecting each other, of course. I may think of him as my little boy, but he's a strong young man and I know he can do this."

"Oh yes, just like all the other fathers think their sons will be the ones to live," Lorenzo said.

I stared back at him levelly. I kept my face even, giving him nothing to celebrate. "And congratulations to whoever it may be."

"I'm sure you're very confident, with your stunning score," Lorenzo said.

"Yes, a six," I said. "The score of many Victors before me."

* * *

_**Striga Solozzo- District Six Chosen**_

* * *

I tottered out to the stage, one of the stagehands barely restraining himself from helping the poor old woman carrying a wobbling tray. Lorenzo made no move to help me, which was just as well. I didn't want my nice tea tray spoiled by his greasy hands.

"Good morning, young man," I said as I sat down. I adjusted my glasses on my face and peered through them at him, like I was trying to get a good look with my old lady eyes.

"Ah, Miss Solozzo," Lorenzo said. "One of our more unconventional Tributes. And I see you brought some tea."

"Oh, pish-tosh," I said, waving my hand airily. "Miss Solozzo is my mother. Most people just call me Nona." I scooped some sugar into a teacup and stirred it. "Tea? They checked it backstage, of course."

Lorenzo looked offstage. At the lack of a warning, he took a teacup and added far more sugar than anyone needed.

"This is quite an adventure for someone your age," Lorenzo said- cheekily, in my opinion. It was one thing to be old, and quite another to mention it.

"I'm just glad an old bird like me is seeing so many new things," I said. "I'm having a wonderful time with my granddaughter. My thanks to the Capitol for hosting me." I hugged the cup in both hands. "Oh, I just love tea. It warms the heart."

Oh Lordy saints alive there is not enough gin in the world for me to act like this, but as soon as this interview is over, I'm going to try.

* * *

_**Timber Hatchet - District Seven Chosen**_

* * *

"How are you liking the Capitol?" Lorenzo asked.

"I don't like it!" I said. I only meant to say it forcefully, but it came out more of a bellow. Also I was wearing a microphone and those things were a lot more powerful than I thought, so really it was more of a booming blare. My beady eyes stared flat at Lorenzo.

"I'm very sorry to hear that," Lorenzo said. "Surely there's something worthwhile about this experience."

"Yeah. The broad from Six is all right on the eyes. Too young for me, though. She's not a day over seventy."

Lorenzo coughed into his hand to conceal a snicker.

"I suppose back in your day, ideals were different," he said.

"Yes, we had them," I said.

Lorenzo, who was already red in the cheeks before we started, was looking more and more like a spoiled brat denied a third cookie. I had the wonderful feeling that the interviews hadn't been going his way, and the wonderful knowledge that I was doing my part to make it worse.

* * *

_Hey there, LCS wants to leave you all a message. Ít´s about a SYOT caled "Poor Unfornate Souls". It´s a Quarter Quell, so it´s sure to be fun. _

_Hope you liked this chapter. Back with Part 2 some time soon!_


	24. Interviews Part 2: Scandal

_**Interviews Part 2**_

* * *

_**Jadee Appleseseed, District Eleven Reaped (13)**_

* * *

Jadee was angry

She was angry for all that was happening. The games, these horrid games that she was being forced to participate in. They hadn´t even started yet and they were breaking her already. She didn´t want to have anything to do with them.

Maybe it was due to the fact that she was being made to wear a _freaking_ dress that she didn´t want to do it. She truly didn´t want to think of the deaths that were to come if she and her brother were to come out of it alive

_If we do anyways_, and she wasn´t going to think they were going die, no sir

_But what if,_ no her brain should stop if she wanted to successfully focus on her interviews.

Speaking of which, when was hers? When-

"You are up next" Jacob told her, him being in a suit of exactly the same color as her outfit. "Behave, and good luck"

_Behave_, that´s the only thing that Jacob had said since the scores had come up. Maybe it was because he was afraid he wouldn´t get any sponsors, but they were allied with someone who had gotten a _fucking_ nine.

That part was easy, so she didn´t know why she was so worried. And why he was so worried, and why she couldn´t stop freaking out for the love of god.

_Keep calm Jadee, _she told herself.

_Behave_, she thought

_Be normal_, that was her only sentiment.

Well, it was time to get up and get onto the stage.

As soon as she walked in, the only thing on her mind was the applause. The massive, huge applause her killers, her captors, were giving to her, or most likely to themselves for giving a great show.

And there it was, Lorenzo Salas in all his wholeness. He was probably going to say a few mean things, but nothing tha-

"So, how does it feel to be a savage? Must be pretty cool, being born in the wild, not even knowing your parents and living on the streets. Seems like you have had a great life till now."

Nope, she was wrong. She certainly wants to kill him.

"Oh, who i am kidding? You obviously love it here. It must make you really homesick, being on the brink of murder and death every single second of your life."

"Oh yeah, all i do back home is think about death. It´s really hot back home, really _hot_, so it makes it all very easy to die. But it is a normal thing back home"

"Talking about hotness, what is your relationship with your brother? I have heard rumors that he may not even be your blood-brother. Doesn´t that make you want to try and have _fun_ with him?"

The rumors were at home too. And she couldn´t stand hearing about them, hearing about the possibility that she had lived a lie all her life, that her only true friend (except Caprium and Tucker, but she didn´t know what to think of them yet) wasn´t really who he was.

So she just did the only thing she could think about.

She snapped.

* * *

_**Xander Bluelite, District Twelve Chosen (27)**_

* * *

As the guards carried Jadee offstage, and Lorenzo was laughing at how the girl didn´t even scratch him, Hans was hyperventilating backstage, doing the only thing he could do.

Worry.

And Xander was the only one there who understood why it was happening. Sure, Striga, Panima and the girls wanted to help as well, but Mercy being there only made things worse.

So he told them all to step aside a bit, and let him handle the situation. As a matter of fact, they only had a few moments before Lorenzo started interviewing again, with Jacob, and his interview finishing.

They were in a corner of the backstage, in a part where Xander made sure no one else was around to see. That was when Xander spoke.

"Hans relax, take a deep breath..."

"He knows... They all know... I am going to be arrested or blown up or something or executed or..."

"Shhh, relax. Take a deep breath..."

"I´m...I´m...I´m..."

"And inhale. Exhale and inhale. You got it? Hans..."

He then repeated. "Hans... Look at me. You know you can do it. You know you are better than all of them out there, wanting all 24 of us to die. Hell, you are better than those damn careers that train for this and enjoy it."

Hans looked up. He looked up and for an instant there he saw a bright light, singing angels that were coming to sing a song for him.

A song called Hope. He didn´t want to admit it, but Xander knew he knew he was better than what he thought.

He hated himself for his thoughts. He constantly punished himself for thinking the way he did. That meant Hans had a conscience. That meant Hans was a proper human being in some way at least.

He wanted him to live. Not for himself.

_Yes you do. _No, he told himself.

_Since the doctor told you the baby may not survive the birth, you have been way too attached him_.

"Shut up". Xander whispered out loud.

"O-okey, i will just keep my mouth shut" Hans responded

"No, I mean... Hans, look at you. I... Love you like a son. Sure i am going to have one with Akira, but you are like first example to me of what is it to be a father."

"Is that supposed to make me feel better?" Hans grunted and laughed.

"No. But what i am going to tell you is this. I can´t keep taking care of you forever." There was a pause then. He continued. "I can´t keep going after you to resolve your messes every time you start destroying yourself over and over again. I can´t do it anymore, with the games coming up soon. You need to shape up"

"But how do i do that? How do i become a better or at least proper person?"

Xander couldn´t do anything but just lower his shoulders and shrug.

"I don´t know, but you have to. If not, we may never know what could happen"

* * *

_**Athos Flint, District Five Chosen (37) **_

* * *

Athos couldn´t tell if he was satisfied or not.

His interview had gone pretty well. He was one of the few tributes that Lorenzo had treated with an inch of respect, and he felt that he deserved it. He was a peacekeeper after all, someone who made sure every citizen of Panem felt safe in their own district. Sure, every peacekeeper had their own way to do so, but still. He deserved respect. Nothing more, nothing less.

His allies hadn´t been so lucky. Logan´s interview had Lorenzo talking him all about Kaj, and when it actually had been Kaj´s turn, he started to talk about the bloke from District Eleven. Aisha was asked if she even had a personality apart from her brother, and when Aias tried to defend her, he was told he was dumb. Calais´s had handled it better than the rest, but when prodded about killing other tributes, he got flustered and keep his mouth shut for the rest of his interview.

Athos had to keep an eye on that. He wouldn´t accept cowards in his alliance. He was already being judged for being a non-career tribute in a career alliance, he wouldn´t accept weaklings leading him or judging him for that.

He then heard a knock on his room. Expecting it to be his mentor or his escort or even Tucker (poor him), he told them to open up.

He certainly didn´t expect it to be Logan Van Diamanten to be the one out his door.

"What do you need at this hour of the night, Logan?" It was certainly becoming a commonality now not sleeping at night. He didn´t know how he still hold up after all of these sleepless nights.

"Okay, you know that-

"Don´t you know manners? Say hello first"

"Shut up."

"Well, you definitely don´t know them"

"I know you know it" Logan said scared but grimly at the same time.

"Know what?" Athos asked obliviously

"Oh come on, don´t play dumb. I know you know what i want to do in the arena. My plan..."

"Okey..." Athos said thoughtfully. "And what if i know it?"

"I knew it! I knew you figured out my plan to kill Kaj!"

"Wait...What?!"

There was a tense pause then. The machines of the capitol sounded in the background, alongside the talking of the escort´s TV in the living room.

"Oh...You...didn´t...know it?" Logan said

Athos only instinctly nodded.

"Fuck. shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit." Logan spoke again and started to repeat himself over and over again.

Athos couldn´t help but just watch. He was stunned for a few seconds.

And then, a massive idea came to his mind. He could use this to his advantage. How hadn´t he seen this before? This was the perfect opportunity for him.

And it was being handed on a silver plate.

"How about you calm down a bit, my friend, and so we can make a deal here. I sense a great opportunity for both of us here..."

* * *

_Hey! I hope you liked the chapter!_

_Reader, your award from guessing LCS, is that you can send a sponsor gift! But it has certain restrictions. You can´t send anything to Xander or Hans, or neither his allies. _

_And nothing unusual, like motorbikes please. It would destroy my narration. Pls. _

_Hope you have a good week!_

_\- Santiago_


	25. The Night Before: Upcoming

_**Last Night in the Capitol**_

* * *

_**Aias Wayne- District Two Reaped (17)**_

* * *

In less than twenty-four hours, Aisha and I would be in the Arena. It was surreal to imagine it, sitting in the Games building. We were in an ultra-modern lounge surrounded by riches and unlimited luxury, and in less than a day, we would be on our own in a rugged Arena with nothing but what we could carry. Maybe we should have spent our last day eating a ton of spinach and broccoli and pounding water, then gone to bed right after dinner. We were going to bed at a reasonable time, but we didn't plan on spending a single minute planning or strategizing. This was my last day to be a normal kid, and Aisha and I were playing games.

"It's something- what do you say when someone messes up and has to deal with it?" Aisha asked, spitting the words out rapid-fire and waving her hand.

"Facing the consequences? Getting busted?" I asked.

"NO! Like if you refuse to eat food and then you're hungry later, you would say that person…" Aisha said, leaning her head forward expectantly.

"You made your bed, now lie in in?" I asked.

"YES!" Aisha tossed the little ball to me and I pressed the NEXT button. The timer was already speeding up. We only had a few seconds to break our record of nine words.

"It's a bird people think is smart…"

* * *

_**Aisha Wayne- District Two Chosen (17)**_

* * *

Aias and I walked down the hall, prowling for a late-night snack. We could have ordered one to our rooms, but we were Careers. We like to stretch our legs.

As our elevator was descending, the doors opened and Cal walked in. Aias smiled at him, while I quietly shuffled to the side to make room.

"Hey, Cal!" he said. "What are you up to?"

"Just kind of walking around. I got restless," Cal said. He looked out the window as the elevator went down, then got off four floors later.

"What's eating you? You looked pissed when he came in," Aias said after he left.

"Look," I said. "We're not here to make friends, okay? I know it sucks, but we have to remember that tomorrow we'll be trying to kill Cal. And more important, he'll be trying to kill us. We're a big target in the pack. The others know we're more loyal to each other than to them. They'll be looking for a time to kill us. Cal is a friendly guy, but you need to remember that if at any second he sees a chance, he'll stab you in the back."

I hated saying it. I hated seeing the surprise in Aias' eyes, and then the understanding. My brother was a Career, but he was also the most innocent guy I knew. We were about to be in the real world, away from the insulating Academy or the laughable Games building. Aias knew all those things in his head, but it didn't penetrate his heart until his sister told him his friend wanted him dead.

* * *

_**Calais Nott- District Four Reaped (16)**_

* * *

Dad and I sat on top of the Games building, looking over the edge and eating marshmallows like a couple of kids. They were Capitol marshmallows, so they were all fancy and flower-flavored and stuff, but it still didn't feel very mature. I tossed one over the edge to see if I could get it past the force field. It kept falling, so I must have made it. We snickered at the idea of some Capitolite having a marshmallow bounce off his head.

"Wow. It's really happening tomorrow," I said. A pit grew in my stomach, like the sinking feeling I got when I saw something falling.

Dad's face went straight too. I knew I was trained in all this and I was probably stronger than my father, but it was still scary to see him scared. It got me good to think that in a week, one of us would probably be dead. I'd either see my father die, or he would outlive his son.

"It's gonna be really hard for Mom," I said. Dad looked away, drumming his legs on the side of the building.

"She's a strong woman," he said.

I knew he wanted me to change the subject, but I couldn't get it out of my head. "She's gonna lose maybe both her son and her husband," I said, more thinking out loud than anything.

"Maybe you should have thought about that before you picked me," Dad said. The hardness of his tone was like a slap. I turned to him, hoping to see horror in his face, and was horrified myself when I saw anger.

* * *

_**Atticus Nott- District Four Chosen (45)**_

* * *

What a thing to say. What a thing to say to my own son. And when he looked at me and his face just broke, I knew I was the wicked father straight out of a fairytale. It just came out, but I knew that wasn't an excuse. It came out because I had been thinking it. Even as I tried to find the words to apologize, I judged myself, because in my heart, I still felt that way.

That night, I lay awake, as Cal no doubt was doing as well. I'd apologized and we'd tried to patch it up, addressing it and then simultaneously putting it behind us. But this wasn't something you put behind you. I wondered if, when the gong sounded, Cal really trusted anymore that I'd be there for him.

I would, of course. I _did_ resent him for taking me to the Games with him, but I still loved him and he was still my son. I knew I was going to die, and while there was bitterness in me over that, I was starting to make peace. There was nothing else to do. There was no way out of this.. I was going to die, brought to my death by my own son. What a world to live in.

* * *

_**Mercy Sol**__**ozzo- District Six Reaped (14)**_

* * *

I was so nervous I couldn't think straight. I wandered the halls of Six's floor, looking at doors and listlessly pacing. My stomach started to churn, and I fled into the nearest bathroom. I could have gone back to my room, but I hadn't been sure I would make it. I knelt in front of the toilet afterward, worried it would happen again.

The door opened a few minutes later, and I hauled myself to my feet with my arms on the toilet.

"Mercy?"

It was Nona's quailing, old-lady voice, tempered with the hoarseness from a lifetime of smoking everything. Just hearing it made me want to cry. I opened the door and fled to her.

"Are you sick, sweetie?" she asked. Even a tough, eccentric granny went sweet when her granddaughter was sick.

"No, just… scared," I said, squished up against her in a hug. "Nona?"

"Yes?" she asked.

"What happens when we die?"

Nona put her arm on my back and led me to the fancy pastel couch the Capitol restroom had for some reason.

"Dying isn't something we have to be afraid of," Nona said. "You're too young for this, but here we are. But when we die, that isn't everything. What makes us human is that we're something more than just bodies and minds. There's something more there, something no one can define or measure, but that goes on forever. I'll be gone soon, one way or another, but that's not the end of me. No one can tell what it is, but there's something after. I know you can win, but if you do die in the Arena, don't be afraid. I'll be waiting for you." She smiled. "Because we both know this old buzzard is kicking the bucket before you do."

* * *

_**Striga Solozzo- District Six Chosen (71)**_

* * *

I poured out another drink. _This one's for all my friends_. A few minutes later, another drink. _This one's for a long, full life_. And one more. _This one's for getting Striga smashed_.

Mercy had gone to bed hours ago. I sat with her for a while, pretending a batty old woman could keep her safe. Then I snuck out for one last hurrah at the dimly-lit dive bar tucked away on the thirty-ninth floor.

_Well, Striga, you did good_. I got in fights, won some of them, married a hunk, outlived him, crashed a motorcycle, lived through my tibia deciding it wanted to be outside my skin afterward, scandalized the populations of half a dozen clubs and committees, kissed ten men and one woman, smoked everything combustible, and drank a guy under the table to win a bottle of wine. I saw my children grow up and set out on their own, things that definitely weren't real but totally should have been, and a lady shove an entire baseball in her mouth. At this point, dying was just about the only thing that could have been new to me.

_Put it on my tab, ha ha,_ I thought as I poured another one out. Let the bartender chase me down in the Arena. I was stuck in the Capitol about to do some cockamamie grudge match politicians cooked up. At the very least, I was going to need to be plastered to deal with this.

On my way back to my bedroom, I stopped in the bathroom. I took a permanent marker from my purse and crouched by the stall barrier, my knees popping.

_FOR A GOOD TIME, CALL STRIGA 555-496-2210_

* * *

_Hey, i hope you liked the new chapter by LCS! Because next is morning before, and then... _

_Well, you what happens next. _

_Hope you a nice day!_

_-Santiago_


	26. Morning Before: Anxious

_**The Morning Before**_

* * *

_**Xaran Lilth- District Three Reaped (16)**_

* * *

I fidgeted in bed. The blankets were hot, and they kept twisting around me. I tried every position I could think of, from curled on my side to flat on my stomach like a flipped egg.

_This is ridiculous. How can I possibly sleep? I'm about to be in the Arena._

I wasn't scared- well, I _was, _but that wasn't my main emotion. I was just _wound up. _I was bouncing off the walls, squirming and practically vibrating with pent-up energy. I wanted to get up and run and throw things. I wanted to run to the clock on the wall and push it forward, fast-forwarding time to get to the countdown and get it over with.

_Let's go let's go let's go let's _go!

I sighed and heaved myself out of bed. I sprinted around the room and did ten jumping jacks, hoping if I just got it out of my system, I'd be able to sleep. I thought about ordering a glass of warm milk, but I thought that was just something they told kids, and besides, it would take a few minutes to get up here, and that was a few more minutes I'd be up and losing any sleepiness I'd managed to retain.

"Agggggggh," I groaned to myself, wondering if anyone else was doing the exact same thing as me. I thumped my foot on the wall, then remembered only the Fours stayed on this floor, so the only one who might answer was my father, who was definitely being responsible and sleeping. Or otherwise he was worrying about me.

I suddenly regretted thumping the wall. If Dad heard it, he might come in and check on me. Then he'd want to talk, and then we'd both get all emotional and nervous. But then, it wasn't like I could get much more wound up.

* * *

_**Parter Lilth- District Three Chosen (40)**_

* * *

It was the morning of the Games, and everything had crystallized.

_Nothing else matters._

All the worries and stresses I'd had before the Games were gone. They seemed far away and almost childish, like it was laughable I could have ever thought they were important. All my goals and dreams for the future were colorless and devoid of meaning. They were gone now, I knew that. There wasn't a future. Only a present for me. A present, and the only other person that mattered.

Xaran was my priority now. My life was over, but his could go on. It wasn't even some grand, noble thing. I resented my life being cut so short, and there were a lot of regrets and unfinished things I would leave behind. It was just… what a dad does for his son. I disciplined Xaran when he needed it, and I was often disappointed by his choices and performances, but I loved him. It was an unbreakable, primal love I couldn't have escaped even if I'd wanted to. The thought of me dying was terrifying and I recoiled from it, but the thought of him dying… it was unbearable. I couldn't even think of it.

It was a strange thing to know I was a dead man walking. _This must be what it's like to have an incurable illness, _I thought. To know and no longer be able to deny that your days are numbered. To no longer have the comforting ignorance of how many days you have left, and to be able to see Death slowly creeping toward you, inexorable and unmissable. To know all your schemes and machinations are nothing but the best-laid plans of mice and men.

It was strangely serene to have such clarity. All the choices and potential futures in my life were gone. There was only one path to follow and one goal to strive for. Xaran could do this. He could get out of this alive. Our family was broken, but that much could remain. If I was a more intellectual man, I might say my bloodline and my son could be my immortality. But men weren't immortal. I couldn't save myself, and in the end, I couldn't make Xaran live forever either. I could only buy him time, and there was no price I wouldn't pay.

* * *

_**Caprium Fael- District Seven Reaped (13)**_

* * *

I'd never been in a hovercraft before. I guess I knew it ran on air, but I was still surprised by how much blew out underneath it as it approached. It fluffed my hair everywhere, and the girls with longer hair came out looking like they'd been through a tornado. That must have been why most of them kept their hair tied back. Mentors were good for a lot of advice, even silly things like that.

I held Grandpa's hand as we walked into the hovercraft. It was a little steep, and I was afraid he would fall. He was afraid I was afraid, so he let me hold his hand and we both got to act brave.

_What if it crashes?_

Even about to fly into the Arena, I still worried. My stomach dropped out when the hovercraft rose into the air, and it made it much worse that there were no windows. I had no idea how high we were. Maybe we were ten feet up, or maybe miles and miles. If we crashed, and we started to fall like a cartoon holding an anvil, I would have no idea how long it would take before we hit. We could fall three seconds, or maybe it would just keep going, minutes and minutes of falling and falling and falling…

All the Tributes were together, sitting in a ring and staring at each other. I could see Careers looking around and picking out their targets, and it was a huge relief that they weren't looking at me. Some of the ones they _were _looking at either tried to look smaller or, in a few cases, stared back and dared them to try.

It was funny how little I was worried about the Arena. As long as we were in the air, it was like a break. Like I got sent to prison but first I got to stay with my parents for a week. I knew that last day would come, but it wouldn't seem real until it did.

* * *

_**Timber Hatchet**__**\- District Seven Chosen (82)**_

* * *

I looked straight ahead, holding my face still with all my strength. In the corner of my eyes, I could still see Cap, and that was why it took so much effort. My grandson was craning in his chair, looking all around with wide eyes and taking in every inch of the hovercraft. He was a little boy enthralled by his first hovercraft ride. It should have been to a vacation, or to see his parents, or anything other than where we were going. It should have been something magical, and it broke my heart.

_Damn them for this._

I learned long ago that life wasn't fair and almost everyone you met was out to take advantage of you. Still, all these years later, there were things that could disappoint me. I looked at Striga, and it flashed across my mind that people used to respect the elderly. But only for an instant, because far worse than that was what they did to children. If they only let us, I knew twenty-four people my age would volunteer every year, ready to give up the few years they had left for children who hadn't begun to live.

_All of them. All of them children._

Careers darted their eyes around the circle, looking for the ones they would kill first. I didn't excuse them for what they would do, but to me, they were children. They thought they were mature and wise and surely called themselves "young adults", but they were fresh-faced babies in my eyes. They were children warped into something they shouldn't have been. They were out to take the childhoods of others, and they never had their own. Damn everyone who made this world into what it was. Where children kill children and adults proliferate it. To Hell with this entire damned world.

* * *

_**Micah Allsbury- District Ten Reaped (16)**_

* * *

"What does this mean?"

Luchia looked back at me, seeming just as confused at the bizarre outfit I was wearing. I had on a blue button-up shirt covered with a crazy pattern of leafy branches and bright orange flowers, plus a weirdly plain pair of khaki pants. It couldn't have been camouflage anywhere in the world. It was natural, sure, but in the most artificial way possible.

"Maybe… an island?" Luchia guessed, clearly not convincing herself.

"Do they _want _us to die?" I asked. "Oh, wait."

"At least you'll be able to see the Careers coming," Luchia said.

"Yeah, coming right at me," I said. I giggled, at first at how crazy it was, and then to hide the sudden surge of realization and panic. This wasn't a joke. I was about to go up there. A ridiculous-looking dead kid is still a dead kid.

"Well, at least we know it's not harsh," Luchia said. "That's pretty light stuff. My guess is it's warm up there."

"Anything I should plan for?" I asked.

"If it's wet, _make sure _to keep dry. It seems like water's a good thing, but _wetness _isn't. Your feet will rot and start to slough off like wet toilet paper," Luchia said.

I swallowed. _Yikes._

"Clean any wounds immediately and _often. _You cannot be too careful about this. You'll rot while you're still alive. You'll be picking maggots out of your holes," Luchia said.

"Any… good things?" I asked.

"Most red or blue fruits are safe. Most white or yellow ones are poisonous," Luchia said.

There was a sudden blaring noise, and I jumped in the air and halfway around. The tube was descending, with a soft hiss of air that blew against me. I saw my face reflected in it, pale and wide-eyed and panicked. It looked like I was already inside the tube, and it made my heart go sideways.

I kept my eyes on Luchia as the tube started up with me inside it. I was sure that if I just stayed close to her, I would live. But the tube kept rising, and she was gone.

* * *

_**Maurie Stafford- District Ten Chosen (22)**_

* * *

Micah and I walked together down the hall to the tube rooms. Ayra stopped us outside the door.

"This one's yours," she said, pointing Micah to one room. "And here's yours," she said to me.

Micah looked at me quickly, and his eyes flashed with fear. _I guess I thought we'd be in the same room, _I thought. _Guess not._

"Hey. It's okay. I'll find you on the top side while the timer is counting down, and we'll hook right back up," I said, clapping him on the back. I smiled, and I thought it looked real.

"You'll find me?" Micah asked.

"I'll find you," I promised.

I turned to Ayra and Luchia. "Hey, just give us a minute, okay? Just a few seconds."

"Of course," Luchia said. She went in Micah's door and Ayra went in mine.

"Hey, there's something I should tell you," I said to Micah. His face went all little-kid scared, and I smiled to reassure him.

"It's not about the Games, or some dying confession. I just wanted to tell you why I've seemed so weird lately. It's _nothing _you did. I was never mad at you. It's just, my father had a stroke a while back." Remembering it, and him, made me choke up, and I pretended to cough while I controlled myself so I wouldn't scare Micah. "It's just kept me really busy and run-down. That's why I wasn't with you as much."

"Why didn't you just tell me?" Micah asked.

"It's hard to talk about," I said. _Because my own father can't use the toilet by himself anymore and the strongest man I know and the person I knew would always be strong is dessicated shell of a human and god I'm going to lose my daddy…_

"Is he okay?" Micah asked.

I sighed, and put on a real smile this time. "Tell you what. He's in better shape than both of us put together."

* * *

_Hey, guys. Just a quick update from LCS, and also I wanted to tell you that i have the bloodbath written! I am satisfied with it, so i am not too saddened about the deaths. _

_Hope you have a great day and week!_

_\- Santiago_


	27. Bloodbath: Death in Hawaii

**_I am just leaving a note for the start to leave the songs to listen to while reading this:  
_**

**_For the countdown and before that, look up on YouTube _**

**_"Background Music: Epic Tension and Mysterious"_**

**_And for the actual bloodbath, "Athmospheric Gothic Gorror Reading Music", this one from minute 24:30 to 33:38_**

**_Good Luck! _**

* * *

**_Bloodbath_**

* * *

Everyone was nervous.

It could be felt in their veins, in their hearts and heads. The beating, the sweet, sweet beating was coming all along.

And there was nothing that could be done to stop it.

* * *

The first thing Aisha saw when the tube finally rose was water.

No scratch, that, the first thing to happen was that the water appeared to want to enter where she was, slowly. And there was also this weird, almost the color of a white´s person skin. She thinks she has learned it somewhere, what it is, its name, something, when a loud noise comes.

"It´s a beach!" She hears Calais say, somewhere. She doesn´t know exactly where she is since she can´t see him.

She just wishes him she is okay.

"_Ladies and gentlemen, let the One Hundred Hunger Games Begin!"_

* * *

_60_

Paris looks around. Aias is next to him, the nearest career he can see, while Micah just right after him, looking at what he really able to do in this arena. Amsterdam is smiling at him 7 spots away. _Easy, we can do this_

_55_

Timber just looks at the arena and laughs. Hell, if he had to die somewhere, he had always dreamed of seeing District Four before dying. If this is the closest thing he will get, he is happy.

But then he looks at Cap, just a few feet away from him. His eyes are piercing him, looking at him in something to say, expressing _please, don´t die. Please don´t leave me here alone._

Timber´s eyes, they see him. And all he can answer him is, with his eyes mouthing for him the words:

_Sorry. _

_45_

Hans is scared. He can´t see Xander, even if he were close to he wouldn´t. At least he is lucky enough to be next to Striga, who seems to be a bit wasted from the previous night, and a bloke he who he even doesn't recognize. He is just seeing water, sand, and the cornucopia, which seems to be made out of wood this year. He feels like if he is going to fall, and explode into million pieces.

_Don´t move don´t move don´t move don´t move_

_30_

_I can´t move. _

Mercy can´t do anything but cry here. She didn´t think she would be this way here. She doesn't want if she was on denial or something, but she is scared.

_So fucking scared. _She knows she should be stronger, that she should be planning her moves, but she had never planned anything before now, so what´s the point?

Her tears are falling down

_10_

Logan sees Athos, and the two nod. Their plan is going to come to fruition. Sure, he doesn´t know why he would want to get rid of Calais, and later Aias, but if the plan lets him kill Kaj quietly without anyone else knowing, he is fine by it.

He sees Kaj standing near down the line, and they both smile. He pities him now, he doesn't know what it´s coming to him.

_5_

She and Xander had an agreement. She would take of care Hans if he was nearer her, and he would take her mother to safety if she was near her. Now, it seems like it is that is actually going to happen. She doesn't want to, she wants to run towards her mother, cry on her shoulders, tell her she wants to go home, she doesn't want to fight now, she wants her dad.

She wonders what he might be thinking now. Is he crying in heaven? And if he is, why it isn´t raining?

_4_

_At least Maurie is next to me. _

Xaran is happy. About that, not due to the deaths that will come. He will just smile his way through the bloodbath, right? Find his father, get a few supplies and ran away from the mess.

From the bloody, deathful, mess, that´s it. He doesn´t want to admit it, but he is terrified. He is terrified he might die now, that something may slip away from the woman from Six´s hands and fall into his platform, and boom, he is gone.

But he smiles anyways. That´s the least he can do, right?

_3_

Jadee is angry. She can´t escape from this without her dying now, later, or her brother dying at any point of this _motherfucking _games. She was just now experiment what was getting to know people, befriending them, and now she is gonna lose them, one way or another.

She is so freaking pissed, she cried all previous night, but Jacob didn´t come to her rescue. She doesn´t know, he was always was hero, her role model, her everything. Why is he distancing himself for her, she doesn´t know, and it angers her.

She only has one positive thought left:

_At least, when I am gone I will know the truth about myself_

_2_

Atticus knows for certain his son will live through this. He has to, for his mother, for Atticus´s wife, for himself. Atticus´s life is his son. His family is his everything. He regrets so much what he told him the previous night, and he is set to tell him _I am sorry son, I should have never told you that. You were right, I just get angry because I love you and your mother so much, and now the two of us, me and you, are here. In this death match that only one person can come alive; I just wanted to tell you that you are strong. That you are a fighter through and through, and I know you will miss me when I am gone, but I love you, and sacrifices are what a parent does. _

He just has hope. And hope is the strongest weapon of all, right?

_1 _

Athos is set. And at the same time he isn´t. He knows he shouldn't be worried about Tucker coming alive out of the bloodbath, but he can´t help but worry. He has grown to care for him the last few days, in a weird "I am not your father but I am too". It´s awkward, and he doesn't know why he feels so conflicted. He wants to be a good father, _someday, _so might as well try to be a couple of days won´t be much.

But the truth is worse than what he imagines. He cares, a lot. Hell, he even cares for _Logan, _and it´s truth. He can´t handle it.

But is it because he has no time for it, or because he just can´t?

_0_

Just before the gung sounds, Micah´s head is filled with questions. Will he survive? Can he survive? How is it possible to survive here, as just an insecure sixteen-year old boy from District Ten? Can he handle killing? Will he want to be able to handle killing? Will he turn into a monster? Will he die before he knows it?

He just hopes he the answers when he needs them.

* * *

_**Tucker Galvani, District Five Reaped (14)**_

* * *

As the gong finally sounds, and everyone jumps into the carnage, Tucker runs for a bag near him. He knows he shouldn´t do it, with all the risks there are. He knows he should be running away from it, or doing something, _just something_ to help himself or his allies to get away from this.

But the temptation is there, and so he runs for it.

He is so scared, excited and all freaked out at the same that he doesn't that the career next to him just ignores him, and goes for the old man situated in the other side.

He only gets to hear the screams, the high-pitched noises of Caprium, yelling at the man from four to stop, to leave his grandpa alone.

When Tucker turns around, all he sees is Timber laying down in the floor, a knife in his stomach, and Atticus above him. All he hears is, meanwhile, Caprium´s cries for help, for someone to help his dad, to someone to do anything, _just anything, _to save his grandpa from death.

Tucker then runs, he doesn't know exactly, maybe the irrationality of the bloodbath got to him, to Caprium, as Atticus nears the poor boy.

"Leave him alone!" He says when he gets there, like if words had ever done something to stop killers from killing.

The man, the forty-year something old man, just stares down at them.

"It had to be done" he says, and as Tucker he will do the final blow, he flees into the cornucopia.

Shock rising into his veins, Tucker wonders what to do now. And he only comes up with one way to make the poor grandparent-less child move.

Yell at him.

"We gotta look for the others Cap, you hear me?!" No response.

"Cap?" No response

So Tucker uses the only thing he knows that will bring attention to him.

Violence

He slaps him. Cap reacts shockingly to it, getting out of his shock. And then he takes of running into the palm trees and farther away into the sand.

_Oh, you gotta be kidding me. _

Tucker follows through, leaving Timber´s body behind, leaving his smile under the blood rising from his body.

Leaving innocence to sleep forever in the beach.

* * *

_**Kaj Van Diamanten, District One Chosen (18)**_

* * *

Kaj isn´t worried at all.

He knows everything will like go like expected. Maybe that´s way he is so worried about the color of weapon he is supposed to grab than just grab an useful one.

Logan comes running behind him. He hears his stumps while doing so, and he recognizes it from all the years living with him. He even the remembers the times they fought, in their house, in the sandbox right down the park, where he always get the prize or reward, whatever they were fighting about. He knows he won´t attack him, he is his own brother after all.

Just as Logan goes into the cornucopia, he gets out. And then it all goes down.

He sees Calais, dumb excitable Calais, having an awkward sort of struggle with Jadee. He knows he shouldn´t help, but there is something on him that wants him to do it.

Or at least before Darky, _his darky, _runs past him, with a knife on his hand, being the hero as always, going to try and help his sister. _That´s why I like you. _

But then, Athos runs into Jacob. Having a trident on his hand, like the majestic, glorious Poseidon, lord of the seas on one of the stories his dad used to tell him every night when he was little. Father of the seas, a weapon that fits the arena.

Kaj is too worried about his ally to remember all that, or to even have it in his head. He is too worried, seeing Jacob see Athos, Athos staring at Jacob up and down, disarming, putting a hand in his throat, putting down in the floor…

And Poseidon kills the poor human. And all the gloriousness of death is gone, replaced with anger, sadness and recklessness.

"NOOOOOOOO!" Kaj screams and as he runs into combat, he feels wrath fill his veins. He no longer feels alive, he only feels like a living dead. A zombie warrior, battling in name of his dead Lenore.

Athos sees his coming though, and when the strike of the revengeful knight´s sword comes, he puts his sword in the right place to defend himself. The strikes come and go, in what appears to be a life but are just a matter of second.

Athos daunts him, asking him why he cares so much if he is so perfect, he wouldn´t need anyone to do anything for him. That he would be better off with the careers, that he can still join them.

"Rot in hell!" Kaj responds vividly. He only sees death in his future, and blood, oh god, the blood, the pure amazing smell of blood. How he is going to make him feel-

Pain. In his back. That is all he feels.

He is only able to turn around for a second to see Logan, his face tainted with blood. An axe in hand

"Now who´s the bigger brother?" He says… with a _smirk. _

As Kaj falls down and faints, the last thing he sees are the lumberjack´s and the greek god smiles, singing him a nursing song.

Forever to sleep.

* * *

_**Xander Bluelite, District Twelve Chosen (27)**_

* * *

Xander doesn´t care.

It doesn´t matter the deal he made with Lilith, Panima can take of herself. She is a grown woman. And if she can´t, well better for him and Hans.

_Why are you thinking like that? _He shouldn´t be like that. They are his allies, and they had been always trying to help him somehow

_But I have to. _He knows he has to be like that, even if he doesn´t really want to. It is for Akira, and for him, and for Hans.

_For my baby_. He can´t allow his child don´t have a parent or grow without one. What a parent would he be if he just left his child like that, alone in the world.

He can´t do that. And he is determined to not let that happen.

That´s why when someone tackles him from behind, he is ready to fight, even without a knife.

They struggle, the man without a name and him. They struggle on the floor, punches coming and going, even he gets his name in order. Parter Lilth, punching him so hard in the nose till it bleeds. Parter Lilth, making him struggle to breath. Parter Lilth, grabbing a spear from the floor.

Parter Lilth, stabbing him. In the leg, till he can´t even move it no more.

He, like a hunter, about to kill his prey, above him with his weapon. Xander, on the floor, breathing heavily.

The final blow is about to come when…

"Leave him alone!" He doesn't know who his savior is, but he hopes Hans is safe at least.

His wishes don´t come true, as he perceives heavy breathing near, from five people. One is him, one other Parter; the voice talking was a girl… Who are the other two?

"Or what?" Parter speaks with confidence apparently in his mind.

"Three versus one man. Do you wanna risk it?"

Lilith. Of course it is she. But then, the other two are…

"Fine, I will leave you be. He can´t win now anyways" And then the almost killer from District Three flees, into the wilderness.

"Are you okay?" "Oh my god, you are bleeding" Hans. No, he must go!

"Just leave me" He says. He can´t win now, but he can make sure Hans does.

"No! I have been carrying Striga all through here, Lilith and I can manage the both of you"

Lilith´s sigh is audible, but then he feels arms taking him over him, and before he knows he is being carried away.

Though, a question remains.

Where are Panima and Mercy?

* * *

_**Calais Nott, District Four Reaped (16)**_

* * *

He lets her go.

He doesn't why, but after she stops fighting back, and he turns around, seeing her brother dead on the floor, he just doesn't want to. It isn´t worthy, fighting a little girl who is crying over her dead brother.

He didn´t volunteer for this. Hell, didn´t even volunteer at all. He doesn´t get why he should be killing people. Is it necessary at all?

Maybe that´s why he tells her to run before anyone else can find her. Before Logan, Athos, or anyone dangerous can get her.

He can´t understand why, but she complies, grabbing what she already had on her hands and leaving before anyone could catch her.

She is quick, because the next instant he turns around to look for his father and finds another one.

"What did you do?" Athos asks him. He feels no sign of humanity, no feeling whatsoever.

"I let her leave." Calais responds. "She doesn´t deserve to die. None of us deserve to be killed by a stupid game to please some rich people"

Athos stares him up and down, and puts his hands around his neck slowly and calmly.

"I´m sorry for that. I am sorry for what it is going to happen to you now"

"What are you talking about" he tries to speak, but just then _snap_

And everything goes to black.

* * *

_**Paris Drapper, District Nine Chosen (16)**_

* * *

Paris is fine.

Micah and Xaran are right behind him, having gone away from the bloodbath. Maurie and Amsterdam have gone into the cornucopia, looking for weapons and supplies for the team. He doesn't know where Parter is, and he doesn´t care really.

And Paris? Well, he is just in his platform, watching it all unfold. It´s not like anyone would dare to fight him with the score he has.

Poor them, the others. Getting killed over dumb, useless things. It´s not like they can survive this.

Parter passes right past through him, pushing down the District Two boy in his way to escape the bloodbath.

_Wow, aggressive much_

He laughs for the inside, and he just doesn't care he is happy this way.

Nothing could ruin him right now, right?

He sees Amsterdam, make his way out of the cornucopia, weapons in hand, most specifically a tomahawk and a set of throwing knifes. Why he chose them, he has no idea, but at least he got to grab something.

He runs towards him, a smile on his face. He, dumb Dam, and in front he stops. He is about to speak when something stop him.

Must be the arrow that appeared on his neck.

_Wait, what?_

Amsterdam falls down, and his mouth gets his killed with blood, red, red blood.

Paris looks up to see the District Two girl widen down his bow, give him a pity look, and run into the cornucopia as Paris´ face fills with tears.

He leans on the floor, next to his dying brother who is just that, dying, and there is nothing that can be done to fix that.

Paris cries… until he sees the boy from two, preparing his crossbow, aiming at Maurie, who doesn´t even recognize him due to him crying.

All he sees now is red. Red blood, red anger, whatever it be, it is all red. The red in Aias shirt allures him somehow.

Allures him into stabbing him. To give fantasy a whole new world, full of the color red.

He runs to him, and before Aias can react, a knife slits his throat. And blood, red pure blood, starts pouring out of it.

Paris hears Aisha´s screams, and wastes no time to run. But, as he does, he laughs.

Oh god, he laughs so hard.

* * *

_**Panima Ri-Yuen, District Eight Chosen (42)**_

* * *

Panima doesn't know how to handle the situation.

She has dealt with having to calm down stressed, panicked 14 year old girls in the past, though not like this. Not in a battle match, when they are in every chance of dying.

She had seen her, freaked the hell out in the countdown, and assumed the role of her protector, at least for the meantime till they got back to the others. They just had to find a way out of here. Her record in calming down 14 years old always had been impeccable, why wouldn´t it be now?

"Mercy...Mercy, please listen to me" She tells her. "Can you move?"

"No, we are all going to die. We are all gonna die. Nona is going to die, I am going to die, you are going to die, and everyone is going to die!"

"Mercy…" She tells her, but then Mercy jumps away. Not because of her or her touch, but at the presence of a career.

Logan Van Diamanten, standing just a few feet away from them.

"Well, well, what do we have here, a panicked little girl and a useless mother. Perfect bloodbath bait."

Panima, hiding his nervousness, stood firmly.

"And who are you to tell that?"

"Uh, feisty ones. That only means that you will go down brutally"

Panima, wasting no time and Logan walked up slowly towards them, weapon in hand, spoke.

"Mercy run!" Whatever that was making her stay there stopped working as she started to run as soon as Logan lunged his weapon towards Panima.

Five times, she was able to escape the blow.

Four times, were the times she again yelled for Mercy to run, as Athos soon approached

Three, the wishes she made. For Lilith to survive this, for her to see Noran again, and for Willis to be able to experience romance again.

Two, the fatal blows Logan and Athos did on her, each one for each weapon.

One, the thing that Noran said to see as she saw the light

_Here, take my hand. _

Zero, the times she was able to respond.

* * *

_Hey. Hope you liked the chapter! Sorry if i killed your character here though. It was for the sake of the plot. _

_I have a few questions for you. _

_Were you surprised by any deaths here?_

_Were you saddened by any of them?_

_Were you surprised by any of the survivors?_

_Hope you have a good night you all!_

_-Santiago_


	28. Day One: Cries of the Jungle

_**Day One**_

* * *

_**Aisha Wayne, District Two Chosen (17)**_

* * *

Exultation swelled in me as I made my first kill. _This _was what I'd been training for. _This _was what I'd waited all my life to do. All the doubts and fears and guilt paled in comparison to the anticipation of pulling the arrow back and _knowing _it will kill the boy and the adrenaline euphoria of it hitting his neck and the blood spurting and Paris falling and knowing it was _me, me _who did this, _me _who took a _life _like it was nothing-

It shatters.

The world was moving slowly, each heartbeat thudding in my ear as I moved on heightened nerves like a hunt beast. With razor clarity I saw Paris' knife in Aias' throat. I smelled the copper-scent of his blood like pennies in my mouth. The bow thudded to the ground. My arms moved like a corpse drifting through water.

I crouched over my brother, fingers like claws in his shirt and the other hand trying to hold his life inside his throat. He pushed at me with none of the strength I knew he had, trying to plead with me to get up and fight and run and not let someone stab me in the back. Half a dozen children were screaming, me among them.

The bloodbath was over. My pulse still sounded in my ears, swelling in my throat and reminding me that I was alive, I was alive and Aias wasn't. As the others organized supplies and staked out the Cornucopia, I sat by him, hands on his cold chest and back bent over him.

_It's my fault._

The only thought that gets through the wall of grief is guilt. I killed Amsterdam, and that's why Paris killed Aias

Killed _Aias he's _dead _he's cold and stiff and his eyes are dry and hard he's never coming back ever ever ever-_

I killed my brother. It was because of me Aias was dead. I didn't think I could hurt any more than I already did. There's no end to it. Hurting and hurting and hurting all the way down.

Words flew by in the air around me, unimportant and unheeded.

_Who did it? WHO DID IT?_

_Paris. I saw him._

_Logan's right. It was Paris._

None of them reach me. None of them at all. My world is lying underneath me. My entire world.

* * *

_**Paris Drapper, District Nine Chosen (16)**_

* * *

Paris was... he didn´t know how we was.

He just knew he wanted the pain to stop. Sure, he had gotten his revenge already, but that didn´t mean he could be happy.

He had realized, as he was running towards the group, that he would never satisfied. Even if he won, he would still have to deal with a lot of stuff he didn´t want to, like his mother probably bashing him from home because he couldn´t protect Amsterdam even a _fucking _minute into the games. Dam´s friends and girlfriend would probably hate him too.

There would no end to the hating. And he would have enough of it already with his newly acquired self-loathing.

Kai.. how he has forgotten about him. The only person who will probably support him all the way through. Though, had he been used him the only they had been friends? Would he be his shoulder to cry on if he came back? Would he be his friend?

Would he even care about him at all?

That, and other things, had Paris been thinking, while the group was yelling, shouting about how could lose Amsterdam back there, in the bloody, bloody mess they had been through.

Xaran was fidgeting his fingers against a palm tree, counting the numbers.

"One" he had said a long time ago

"Nineteen" that´s where he was now. Parter, meanwhile was... well, being Parter.

"It´s not my fault the kid got himself killed, you know?" He said to Maurie, while searching in his bag to know what they have gotten out of the cornucopia.

He found an apple and a few matches.

_How useful_

Maurie must have thought the same, but the next instant he had a angry remark coming out of his mouth.

"Parter, we are not _fucking_ discussing whose fault is it. Hell, i don´t think it´s anyone fault except the careers. So don´t _freaking _make those types of comments again, do you hear me?"

"Don´t act like you are the tough man here, Maurie" Parter continued with his deep voice like it was nothing at all. "If there is one around here, it´s me. In fact, i should be one leading this alliance"

And then Paris burst into tears. He didn´t know why, but he did. He was crying because of Amsterdam, because of his mother, because of Amsterdam´s friends, because of Kai, because of Parter right here, giving _no fucking shits _about his grieving process.

He was crying because of Xaran, who seemed more worried about himself than in what happened to the others. He was crying because of Maurie, because of Micah, because of everyone else in this arena who hadn´t helped in any way since he got reaped. He was crying because of the anger that the games had caused him, the pain he had perceived he would received when Amsterdam had gotten reaped, when he selected him for the games instead of his mother, and the pain he was having now.

He was crying because of the escort, because of the president, because of the rebels who made the games happen. He was crying due to the people back home who had always disliked him, and the ones that did like him. He was crying because of, _hell_, even because of his father. His dead drunk ass attempt of a father, who had done more good dead than alive.

_God, how much do i miss him now. _

Then, when he was least expecting it, comfort. He felt arms around him, and he slowly looked up, to see Micah, supporting him. Holding him.

Caring for him.

And he just couldn´t help but cry more.

However, it wasn´t only because of someone finally supporting him through his grief.

A perfect catch. How hadn´t he seen it earlier?

Micah can be so gullible.

"Are you okay now?" the boy from District Ten spoke.

And Paris smiled.

For a second, but he did.

* * *

_**Caprium Fael, District Seven Reaped (13)**_

* * *

I ran.

I ran and ran and ran, sand flying under my feet, ignoring the buildings around me. It didn't enter my mind to run for cover or for a hiding place. It only entered my mind to run. And it didn't matter how far I ran. I would never be able to run to a place where my grandfather wasn't dead.

The screams and clanging swords grew fainter behind me. Every second I expected to hear the thrum of an arrow and feel it hitting me back, killing me as easily as it killed Grandpa. Grandpa was the strongest man I knew. He was old, but it didn't make him less strong. He could pick me up and hug me, and sling a bundle of wood over his shoulder bigger than I could. He took care of me. Who was going to do that now? I couldn't do it myself.

I finally started to see the buildings that made up much of the Arena. My chest and sides ached, and I couldn't run forever. I ran into one of the buildings. It looked like a cabin, except with a roof made to look like grass. I shut the door behind me and leaned against it, panting. I ran to the bed on the other side of the cabin, stuffing myself into the tiny crack between the bed and the wall. I lay curled in there, shaking and crying.

"Cap?"

I jerked at the noise and buried myself further into the crack. I heard the creaking of the floor as someone came in.

A shadow fell across me, and a hand reached into the crack. I screeched as it pulled me out, landing me like a fish across the bed. I thrashed, my voice cracking as I screamed and clawed at the intruder.

"Cap! It's just Tucker!"

Two arms pinned mine to my sides. I kicked and screamed more as the stranger pushed me down into the bed until I could hardly move. I saw, then, that it really was Tucker. All at once, I sagged into him, clinging to his arm with one hand and shoving the other against my mouth. I cried like a little kid, nose stuffed and coughing with how hard I was crying.

I was crying for Grandpa, and it was Grandpa that got me to stop crying. _He wouldn't want me to be like this, _I thought, and I forced myself to act brave. I lay on the bed until I could look as brave as I was pretending to be, then got up and joined Tucker looking around the cabin.

The cabin was nicer than anything I'd seen in Seven. There was a huge, thick bed with curtains all around it, and a dark wood table with cushioned chairs, and a pillowed nook set into a window, and a hanging couch. Through another door I could see the bathroom, which was covered in white tile.

"It's really nice," I said.

"No kidding," Tucker said. "Let's stay here tonight. We can look for Jadee in the morning."

He didn't have to ask me twice. I could pretend I wasn't scared, but not forever. There was nothing in the world I wanted more than for it to be dark, so I could cry without anyone seeing.

* * *

_**Lilith Ri-Yuen, District Eight Reaped (18)**_

* * *

Lilith was worried.

_Well, who hadn´t been worried since they have gotten reaped? _She thought her mother would say when she finally saw her, coming with or without Mercy. Sure, Striga would be sad if Mercy was gone, but it is going to happen one way or another.

_Maybe she would even give up if the little girl is gone, _the image of herself said in her head. _And we wouldn´t have to carry her around all day. _

_Don´t say that, _Panima would say if she could see her thoughts. She would tell her off for being like that, telling her that they are good people, and don´t deserve to be treated like that.

_Nobody deserves to die, but here we are, in a death match,_ she responded to her imaginary mother, _so don´t be condescending._

At least the projection of a Panima shut up for a moment. In her own head, Lilith always won.

"Do you anywhere we could land" Hans said, Xander´s arm around him, in a way to carry him.

Meanwhile, Striga was there, on Lilith´s shoulder, not knowing how to walk around the sand. And maybe not even knowing yet, that Mercy wasn´t there.

Or maybe she did, and she wasn´t as drunk as she seemed. Maybe she did know her granddaughter wasn´t there, and that maybe she was dead, but hope still remained on her.

Lilith didn´t know which one was. And she didn´t know which one was sadder.

They finally decided to rest on cabin by the water, which had all sorts of weird tools and stuff. Colorful long tables, which Lilith didn´t know why they were like that, hammers, and even a few weird metal mechanism.

"Okay, i guess here it´s okay" Xander said roughly between heavy breaths, as Hans deposited him on the floor, next to a few weird blue toys.

"Is everyone okay?" Hans asked.

The response was silence. Silence evolved them for a really long time, till the trumpets of the anthem sounded.

The first face in the sky was Kaj´s. Lilith could see the shock on her allies´ eyes, but she couldn´t feel it on her own face. She suspected he would go out early, for some reason.

Then Aias appeared out there in the sky. _Two careers, hmmm, _

Then Calais. _Please let the next face be Atticus please please. _

It wasn´t, it was Timber´s. But that didn´t stop her from smiling. Three careers tributes, all gone in the first day. She and her mother had a chance now, an actual chan-

Her mother. In the sky, smiling at her, down there.

Her mother, right there in the sky for a moment.

That couldn´t be. They would together to the final. They would win, they-

"I am sorry, Lil" Hans said. But words didn´t matter. Because she knew the truth.

Her mother was gone, and it was Mercy´s fault for sure.

"Do you need a hug?" The old lady said. She could see it in her face, the mocking, the _My granddaughter, who is a fucking fourteen year old, is alive and your mother couldn´t even keep herself safe. What a loser your family must be. _

And as Lilith´s eyes filled with tears and her veins with need for vengeance, the cries of the jungle sounded through the night.

* * *

_Hey, hope you like all this angst. I did :)_


	29. Day Two: On a Mission

_**Day Two**_

* * *

_**Atticus Nott, District Four Chosen (45)**_

* * *

I held him in my arms. It was a miracle. A perfect, tiny life had just come into the world, and he looked at me. I looked into eyes that hadn't seen anything at all, looking out of a gossamer body the size of my forearm. I looked into those angel eyes and knew that the child was my future, my legacy, my devotion, my love, my _son. _

That was what I saw when I looked at his cold body, eyes pointing at the sky and looking at nothing. I taught him to put a hook on a line. He wore my fishing hat, all draped off his tiny head and peeking out underneath with those big little-boy eyes. I saw him grow in size and strength until he was my rival and then my better, as I grew old and he grew mature. I dreamed of the life he would have and how when I died, I would know he would go on.

And the torment and agony of having all that ripped away was too much to turn inward, so I turned it outward. Nothing would bring Cal back, but something could make his murderer pay. They said it was Paris. I brought up an image of him in my head, turning him this way and that as I planned out what I was going to do. I didn't need him to suffer. I just needed him to die.

"Where you going?" Aisha asked as I started to stalk out of the main building of the hotel complex, where we'd set up camp and were starting fortifications. She was more collected than before, but her eyes were still puffy and I could still see the tear streaks.

"I'm going to make him pay," I said as I brushed past her.

She slid between me and the door, holding up a hand with the palm facing me. "Wait. You should-"

"There's nothing to wait for," I said, moving around her to get to the door.

"At least make a-"

I rammed my fist into the glass that made up the wall around the door. My hand went through it, embedding shards in my skin and sending lines of razor pain up my arm. Aisha gasped at the sudden violence as water gushed out of the perforated aquarium. Hand-sized fish plopped out of the hole, flopping and snapping with needle-teeth. As I walked through the door, I heard Logan's take on the situation.

"Well, we have food now."

* * *

_**Parter Lilth, District Three Chosen (40)**_

* * *

_We shouldn't be following Paris. _He shouldn't be our leader. He took risks, and he thought too much of himself. Like when we found the nest in the tree. Our intrepid leader said we needed the food, and told Micah to climb the tree. _He _didn't climb the tree. That was Micah's job. Parter's job was just to eat the food. And when Maurie spoke up and said it was bad luck, Paris looked at him with such withering venom in his eyes. He didn't make a sensible argument. He just squashed any opposition and made sure he got his own way.

For the time being, there was safety in numbers, but when the time came, Xaran and I had to be ready. When night fell, I'd have to discuss it with him. I wasn't about to get myself and my son killed because of some would-be dictator.

We made our way across the sand, moving away from the central buildings and toward the safety of more secluded areas. We passed by a few cabins along the way, but each was rejected by Paris. One was too flimsy, another too close to the Cornucopia. I agreed that we needed distance, so I kept my quiet, but if we didn't find a place soon I would speak up. The Careers would be hunting soon. We needed a place we could fortify, and time to gather and store supplies.

"Dad," Xaran said, pointing at the sand. I looked down his finger and saw the unmistakable shape of a foot, pressed into fragile, transient sand.

I shoved my way to the front of our group, right next to Paris. I grabbed his shoulder and wheeled him around.

"What's your problem?" he snarled.

"We've been going in _circles," _I said, stabbing my finger at the footprint. The boy who'd taken our lives into his hands had lead us in useless circles.

_That's what we get for trusting a child_, I thought. For trusting a boy not even grown to know how to keep himself alive, much less anyone else.

"Calm down," Paris said, and it was the worst thing he could have said.

"_Calm down? _If you want to be our leader, start deserving it!" I said.

"Hey!" Micah said, all ready to defend his buddy.

"We just need to reorient," Paris started. "We'll be fine."

"We'll never be fine if we follow you. Amsterdam would be alive if-!" I yelled.

"Dad!"

I turned around to face my son. He slapped me. It didn't hurt, but the jarring motion seemed to reset something inside me. I composed my face and fell to the back of the group, eyes fixed ahead of me. He was right. If I wanted to make my move, I needed to be more subtle.

* * *

_**Striga Solozzo, District Six Chosen (71)**_

* * *

My head pounded with the last bits of the liquid courage I'd drunk last night, along with the beating sun and the lack of water. The light seared my eyes, but I forced them open. I was ready to search every inch of the Arena until I found Mercy.

_Mercy! _I called, but only in my head. I wished I could scream for her. I didn't care if someone else heard me and did me in. The only thing stopping me was concern for my allies. I was old and half-dead already, but Lilith and Hans had lives ahead of them. I hardly mattered, but they still had time.

"You go on ahead for a while," I said to my allies. "I need to catch my breath."

They knew why. Lilith turned her head away, so I barely saw the glare crossing her face. Hans looked down, and drew himself in as he left. They both had their reasons for letting me put myself at risk. I didn't ask anyone to save me, I just asked that they let me make my own decisions.

"Mercy!" I called, as soon as my allies were out of sight. "Mercy!"

"Grandma!"

The voice was faint, and not just because I was going deaf. I turned in the direction of it, stumbling over some undergrowth.

"Mercy!" I called again. A horrible thought came to me, of Careers hearing Mercy and catching her before she got to me, before I even knew where she was. I wondered if I'd hear one last scream, or if they'd be too quick even for that.

"Grandma!"

The greenery at the edge of a curated forest parted, and Mercy barreled out. I ran at her, as much as I could be said to run. She slowed right before she reached me, so she wouldn't knock me over. She clung to me, holding me so tight it hurt. She shoved her face into my front, shaking.

"Panima's dead," she sobbed. "She told me to run."

"Shh," I said, cradling the back of her head. "It's all right." I laid my head down on hers, letting her hair wipe off my tears so she wouldn't see them. _Oh, Mercy, _I thought. _I didn't know. I didn't know if I'd see you again._

"Where's the others?" Mercy asked, raising her head.

"They're right ahead. We'll catch up quick," I said. Hans was a fine young man. I knew he was walking slowly, waiting for me to find my way back.

As we walked, Mercy held her hand ot her ear. "What's that noise?" she asked.

"I don't hear it," I said.

"It's buzzing," Mercy said. She grimaced. "And it's getting louder." she squinted. "There they are!"

As we got closer, what had looked like a blur to me became Lilith and Hans, who had Xander holding onto him, standing in front of a cabin. Mercy ran ahead, waving at them. I caught up at my own pace.

"I'll go first, to see if it's safe," Lilith said.

"I'm going to look around," Hans said, heading toward the jungle-like gardens and leaving slowly Xander to sit on the floor.

I followed Lilith into the open doorway. From her expression, I guessed she heard the noise too. When I strained, I could just catch the faintest tinny whine. It didn't sound like it was coming from the cabin, but I could see why they were nervous.

As we walked in, I got the strangest sense of foreboding. Maybe it was the dark cabin, but I knew it was more. It had something to do with the flash of anger I'd seen on Lilith's face when she first looked at me after Panima died. I could understand why she might resent me for being alive. I certainly had the least right to it of anyone in our alliance. And now I was alone with her, in a remote cabin where killing wasn't just allowed but required.

"Mercy! Come look at this!" I said. I bustled into the cabin, pretending to be taken with the four-poster bed. Mercy ran into the cabin, and the atmosphere shifted immediately. The moment had passed, but I knew there would be more. I held Mercy's hand as we explored the cabin, more tightly than I needed to. This was her Games to win, not mine. I would do anything to give her that chance, no matter what.

* * *

_**Tucker Galvani, District Five Reaped (14)**_

* * *

Tucker was tired.

He was so damn tired. He didn´t want to walk anymore, his legs were losing him and he just felt down, like a cold had gotten hold of him, and told him to go to sleep.

He knew, however, he couldn´t do that. Not without putting him or Caprium at risk of dying by weird jungle mutts (probably) or careers (most certainly). He could not let that happen, and would most likely try his best to not be.

Still, he was so, so tired.

"Are we there yet?" he said out of tradition

"Where do we have to?" said Caprium, somewhat angry, somewhat innocently. He never, in the few days since he had met him, seen Cap be even a bit angry at somebody, but he was starting to be. It was weird, being with somebody who was grieving for a relative.

That had never happened before to him. Tucker had never ever been able to experience true grief for a relative, since his grandparents died when he was pretty young, and apart from that he only had is mother. He had never had someone else to cry for, and not many people cry on their shoulders about anything. It had been always like this and nothing could stop it from continuing the trend.

"Let´s...rest...here...for...a...bit..." Tucker then said between breaths. They been walking since the sun had risen and now it was night. He didn´t know if the gamemakers had changed the hours or the sun rise and dawn time to mess with the tributes, but if they did he surely had so many _fucking_ things to say to them.

Just four minutes in since they had taken a break, they started hearing noises. Crying, wail over somewhere, deeper on the jungle. And before they could start going away from the source of the noise, in fear of it being like one of those previous games where the gamemakers tried to weird out or put fear onto tributes by giving them illusions based on their loved ones, they saw it.

Something falling off of the sky. In a parachute.

That could only mean one thing. A sponsor gift.

Tucker wasted no time and ran towards it. If there was a sponsor gift falling off nearby, that meant someone had hope on them, someone trusted them to have a chance on the games, to win them, to survive them.

To be their victor. Tucker didn´t care about Caprium´s yells at him, he made as if he was deaf and continued on with his mission.

He had to retrieve that box. No matter what.

What he didn´t certainly expect was, that when he got there, that the cries and noises nearby the sponsor gift were from someone familiar.

"Jadee?" he said.

She was kicking a tree so hard it would break her deep down, and crying so hard, showing she already was.

Even though, when she saw him, she run up to him and hugged him. And Tucker didn´t care for the sponsor anymore, and soon he also felt the embrace of Caprium.

For a Hunger Games day, it had been certainly good enough.

* * *

_Another chapter, this one a little less angsty. Hope you liked it!_

_-Santiago_


	30. Day Three: Wake up

_**Today is the last of the nominations of the SYOT Awards in the SYOT Alliance forum! Go submit your nominations there today!**_

* * *

_**Day Three**_

* * *

_**Logan Van Diamanten, District One Reaped (16)**_

* * *

Logan felt invigorated.

He felt like he could do anything he wanted, like if he was the hero of his own story. Finally, he felt like he always wanted to feel.

Superior. That was what he always wanted to be. What he always wanted to achieve. His true inner desire, his deepest wish. What he always felt was his from nature.

_What I have always needed, _he thought as he and Aisha followed Athos in his search for more tributes to kill. They were in their natural hunt, as they were the lions looking for their prey. Snakes and bats thirsty for blood.

They were animals that were so happy for what they did and what they were about to do. So why the heck was Aisha crying?

"Are you okay?" Logan asked, half sincerely, half in attempt to woo her. "Do you need something?"

He grabbed a banana from a tree. "Care to have one?"

"N-no t-thank you" She said, sobbing like leaves after a cold rai, and continued walking, almost ignoring Logan.

_B*tch, _he thought as he continued to follow both her and Athos.

_I could do so much more than her_; he continued thinking while eating the banana.

_Who does she think she is, ignoring me like that? I´m Logan Van Diamanten, and I am better than everyone else here. I am going to win the Games and everyone else will see what I am made of, everyone will-_

"I think I have found someone!" Athos called out. This was the time, the moment to shine, the instant to record as a memento in his soul.

Because now would be the time Logan Van Diamanten got another kill in the One Hundredth Annual Hunger Games. This was his time to make history.

It was show time.

Logan started running to where Athos was pointing at, clutching his weapon to his side, ready to kill whoever they had crossed paths with.

Ready to do his work a piece of art.

He was excited, eager, and probably giddy too. He was about to have another kill, another score, and he was so looking forward to it.

"Wait!" he heard, but he didn´t want to listen, and didn't want to pay heed to the voice. No, he just wanted to end it once and for all. End him, or her, or whoever was there. End it, end-

But then his weapon was off his hand, and he was powerless. How was he going to kill that person? And who had dared to take the weapon off his hand? Who was that evil to not let him kill a human being?

The answer, obviously, was kAthos. Fucking Athos Flint.

"Don´t you see who you are trying to kill, idiot?" Shouting came from Athos´ mouth, but if there had not been any real evidence of what Logan was being accused of, he might not have listened to him at all.

For the person, lying on the floor in a state that could be called a "deep sleep", was none other than Atticus Nott.

"Oh, shit", was the only thing Logan could say. Not "sorry", not "excuse me". No, he just said that, like if he was a little kid who had peed his pants for the first time.

Aisha came close and started doing the only sane thing.

"Wake up, Atticus, wake up."

* * *

_**Jadee Appleseed, District Eleven Reaped (13)**_

* * *

"Wake up, Jadee."

She heard something, but she couldn´t figure out what it was that she heard. She could remember her brother, hugging her, telling everything would be okay.

She realized now that wasn't true. She realized that her brother was gone, gone forever, and that he wouldn't be alive anymore.

That he was dead.

And she started crying, because she would prefer dreaming all day to be awake and be aware of his absence, or she would prefer the worst.

Being dead alongside him.

"Hey, hey, it´s okay" Tucker said as he hugged her. He seemed so comforting, so soft, so lovable in that moment he was hugging her. He seemed to be an angel made of God´s wings.

She wanted to be with him, her brother. But this moment, this moment made her want to stay alive.

_Tucker. _

"It´s okay Jadee, it´s-"

Kissing interrupted the emotional scene. Jadee couldn´t stop herself. He was there, hugging, being the only emotional crutch she had these days, and she just couldn´t stop herself. The pressure of her heart was pounding and she just wanted to get it off, make it real.

She wanted something, anything that could comfort her.

But the kiss then broke apart, and Jadee had to realize the truth.

Tucker wasn´t her man.

"Look Jadee, you aren´t my type. I mean, no one is my type. I am asexual. I don´t really like anyone."

"Oh," said the mournful girl, feeling terrible for what she did, but at the same time, finding it horrible that she was being rejected.

"I appreciate the attention, so well, emm, thank you? But I don´t really need or want a relationship at all, you get it?"

She had to be honest.

"I don´t."

"Uh?" Tucker could only be worried about Jadee at this moment, and it was noticeable on his face.

"I don´t get why you can´t like me! I mean I kissed you, you hugged me, we had a moment! I don´t get it!"

Tucker just looked at her straight in the face, and for the first time in a long time, he didn´t use violence to his problems.

Words were the solution.

"Look Jadee. I know you are sad because of Jacob…"

"Don´t you dare mention him!" And then she was crying again, away from Tucker.

"Look, Jadee. Ugh, we sometimes don´t get what we want. I didn´t want my father to be an abandoner piece of shit peacekeeper, but he is what he is. Caprium didn´t ask for his whole family to die before the games and to be left with his granddad, with him also dying from the Games. Nobody asked for goddamn anything of this, so fuck the hell off Jadee! Don´t play the victim all the god time! You are not the only one suffering!"

For some reason, Jadee stopped crying. And it wasn´t because she wanted to beat Tucker up, though she did want to do that.

No, it was because he was right. She wanted to make something happen, something that wouldn´t happen at all.

She had to grow up. And fast.

Because if not, what would she do?

* * *

_**Micah Allsbury, District Ten Reaped (16)**_

* * *

Paris was such… _everything. _He was the kind of guy every boy wished he could be. He was a good leader, and sure of himself, and it seemed like he knew everything. In my heart I knew that was just pretense, but he did it so well. It wasn't as scary in the Arena as long as we were with him. Between him and Maurie, I felt safe.

He was cute, too. He had pretty green eyes, and even his glasses looked kind of cute with them. It was funny how such a manly man wore glasses like an old-timey nerd. Before we came into the Arena, he'd had the start of a beard. The stylists took it off just like they took off all the girls' body hair and some of the really hairy boys' hair. Earlier, he'd looked much older than me. Now he looked a little younger, but still handsome.

We'd been walking all day. We were so far from the Cornucopia and the clump of buildings around it that it didn't even seem like we were at a resort anymore. The perfect white sand had some coarse chunks and black bits, and the trees were getting thicker, enough to block the view before the horizon came.

Paris held up his hand, and we all stopped. He threw a rock as far as he could. It hit the sand with a soft thump.

"What was that?" Maurie asked.

"Seeing if we were at the edge yet," Paris said. I hadn't even thought about that. We walked to the rock and he threw it again. Five throws later, there was a huge cracking noise and a flash of energy. The rock bounced back to Paris' feet.

"There's the edge," he said. "Everyone start gathering branches. We'll make a shelter here."

"Why?" Parter asked.

"The Careers will be searching the building," Paris said as he carefully placed the rock next to the barrier. "I don't want to be in one. We can make plans and regroup tomorrow and maybe move. And if the Careers _do _come here, we know where the boundary is. We can lure them to it and it will kill them for us."

_That's so smart, _I thought. He thought of everything.

"Paris is really cool," I whispered to Maurie as we laid branches across the framework of sticks we'd all made. If we did it right, we'd blend right in. The Careers were looking for the obvious targets, and sometimes even Careers got lazy.

"Keep your mind on the Games," Maurie said.

"I've just never felt like this about anyone before," I said. Everything I did, I kept thinking about Paris. Wondering if he was watching me. Hoping he felt the same way.

"This one time, make war, not love," Maurie said.

I didn't listen to him. All my life I'd been so unsure of life, and everything, and myself. This time, I knew. I loved Paris, and I wanted to be with him. I knew only one could win, but that didn't mean I had to stop loving him. The Arena would be the Arena no matter what part I focused on. I didn't want to focus on all the death and violence, though I knew I had to watch out for it. I wanted to focus on all the good things it brought to me. Like how pretty it was, and now I finally found out why Maurie had been so distant.

And Paris too.

* * *

_**Hans Miner, District Twelve Reaped (18)**_

* * *

Hans was worried.

He didn´t know what to do next, or what he could do next. He was clueless, lost in a sea of trees alongside people he didn´t know he could trust, or people he didn´t know he could trust himself with.

It was dangerous path to follow, but he at least had Xander alongside him.

"I gotta do my stuff" Lilith said as she went to probably fill her urinal needs.

"I got to talk to you. Both of you," Striga spoke as soon as Lilith left, watching over the sleeping Mercedes.

"What is going on Striga?" Xander said, always being the first one to speak up.

"I don´t know how to say, misters, but I think Lilith is planning something. And I don´t think it´s something good."

"Why would you say that? Lilith seems like a good girl," Xander said nervously. Hans could see that something was worrying Xander, but what could it be? What could make him so anxious, so nervous?

"I am telling you, young men. She is up to something and she is planning to kill Mercy, or me, or both of us! You gotta believe me, boys."

Hans looked profoundly at Striga, then at Xander, and the latter spoke again.

"It´s just paranoia, Striga, don´t worry. Everything will be okay, now relax. Just inhale, exhale, breath, relax. Okay?"

"But-"

"Just relax Striga, and go back to sleep"

Striga looked angry and seemed to want to argue, but complied at the end.

"Hans, I gotta talk to you," Xander said while looking at him, at the poor boy stuck with him in a death match.

"Okay"

They walked a bit into the trees and started to settle to initiate their talk.

"What did you want to tell me?" Hans asked in his most interrogative way possible.

"I think Striga is right"

"What?!"

"But it´s my fault."

"What do you mean? I mean what the hell is going on here?"

"I made a deal with Lilith that I would bring her mother out of the bloodbath alive, and that she would bring you alive out of it. I guess I didn´t fulfill my part of it."

Hans was terrified. He was anxious. He was afraid.

"So what we do now?" he asked Xander, himself, and no one in particular.

"I guess-

_**BOOM!**_

"Oh no!" they both said at the same time, like synchronized clocks.

Starting running back to the camp, desperately for their allies, they found a cruel scene.

An old lady stabbed multiple times in the heart, and a little girl, such a young little girl, crying over her. Lilith nowhere to be seen, but her ghost surrounding the area.

Striga´s soul was still there, gone, but still in the air.

And Hans couldn´t but see Xander walk up to Mercy, and tell her how sorry they were. How sorry he was. How everything bad that had happened was his fault, and he should have died in the bloodbath.

Hans just had one thought

_The therapist is losing his mind. How ironic._

* * *

_Hi guys, only 16 people left in the games. Exciting, isn´t it?_

_See you soon, and sorry for not updating before._

_-Santiago_


	31. Day Four: Reactions to Death

_**Day Four**_

* * *

_**Athos Flint, District Five Chosen (37)**_

* * *

Athos was tense.

Here they were, four careers, professional assassins, and they hadn't been able to kill anyone since the bloodbath.

And that angered Athos. Sure he wasn´t exactly a trained killer as the others, but he was _trained. _It was the previous training he had as a peacekeepers that kept in this alliance and alive. It was his training that made him strong, his training what made him a career in shape, but not in the heart.

Because he was still worried about that damn boy.

How could he let it go on his own, with those other children? Sure, he had killed one of his allies and he wasn´t sorry about that, the boy was going to die one way or another, but that son of his mother could survive if he wanted to. He had the potential to do so. He was strong, firm, and in shape to do what he had to do to survive.

Athos just wasn´t sure if the fourteen year old wanted to do so.

Maybe the kid wasn´t ready to survive and everything was in his head. Maybe the child wasn´t who Athos thought he was.

Maybe Tucker was going to die.

_But he doesn´t have to, _he thinks as the sun starts to set. He can keep him alive but leading his allies the opposite way of Tucker´s tracks.

That´s the only thing he could do for now, but he had to do so. If not, how can his heritage survive?

He knew that it was a matter of time before they found each other, but he could keep him alive the longest possible.

It had to be him, or Tucker to get out of this arena. It was the only way.

"Hey" a face appeared in front of him. Apparently, Logan had a fascination with sticking his nose, and face, where it didn´t.

"What do you want?"

"Oh, nothing I want. Just wanted to make sure you are not going to rat me out to the others. You know, I might still have chances to, you know, bang-bang Aisha"

Athos face was a face of disgust. How someone could be thinking of banging someone when they were in the middle of a death match.

Though, if he was honest, he was being inconsiderate, since he was thinking of keeping Tucker alive the longest possible while he should be thinking about murdering everyone in the arena the fastest possible.

"I am not going to rat you out to the others, Logan. Calm down a bit. If I rat you out I would rat myself out as well, don´t you think?"

"Oh, you are right. I am being dumb."

"Hey guys, I think I found something here!" said Atticus from afar.

Athos just had one hope.

"It´s a pair of glasses" Aisha said when they all arrived at the scene. "They are broken, but only one tribute I remember entered with glasses to the games"

"The District Three boy, remember?" Logan exclaimed.

Oh boy, action was going to start.

Athos just hopes that Tucker wasn´t near.

* * *

_**Xaran Lilth, District Three Reaped (17)**_

* * *

Dad was actually in a good mood. We were all clustered around our cozy little fire, eating bananas and fruit we'd found on the many trees scattered around. Micah tried roasting one like a marshmellow. It smelled good. And Dad was telling a story.

"So I went to Flicker, or, as we called him… well, there are kids present. He's a nice guy. It's just, he's named Flicker. He's also crazy smart. In five minutes he had a program written, and we uploaded it onto Cathode's computer while he was in the bathroom. Then the fun began."

"See, it was a real stinker of a program. At random intervals, it would start displaying pop-up pictures of cows. When Cathode tried to close them, they would moo and another one would pop up. He tried to get rid of it, and then he got up to get the rest of us. But the program was linked to the computer's camera. As soon as it recognized more than one face, all the pictures vanished."

Dad laughed. It was something I hadn't seen in a while. It was so genuine it warmed me all up inside. I smiled along with him. For the first time in a long time, we were having a normal, funny-dad-story moment.

He leaned back and put a hand to his mouth. His head bobbed forward, like there was music playing and he was nodding along. Then he teetered forward and fell headlong onto the grass. I didn't understand until I saw the brains sticking to the axe in the back of his head. I still didn't understand then.

As though through water, I heard screams and rustling around me. They were above the water's surface, far away from me. My father was the only thing near me. I looked at him. He was still there. He was in one piece. That was my father, dead in front of me. My father's hands, that used to shoo me back to bed when I said I was scared, but never before he gave me a hug and told me I was a big boy. My father's hair that was getting thinner and made me think that a bald spot was just a style some men liked. My father's arms that swung me as I dangled from him on one side and my mother on the other.

My arm lifted into the air. The watery yelling was louder, right by my ear. Someone was grabbing me. Because it was a grab and not a blade, it must be one of my allies. Whoever it was pulled me away. I ran after them into the trees, looking over my shoulder the entire way, back at my father.

* * *

_**Maurie Stafford, District Ten Chosen (22)**_

* * *

I'd never seen Parter so light. He was telling a normal story like a cool uncle. Usually he was so formal and stiff and just sort of acted like a rich person out of a stuffy novel. Turned out he was a person just like anyone else.

Then he was dead on the grass. It was horrible, I would know later it was horrible, but I didn't give him a second thought. It didn't matter that Parter had been killed. It mattered that someone was near and someone was killing.

Everyone started to get up and run. As I rose, I saw Athos through the foliage. He was looking down below me and smiling. I knew then I was looking at Parter's murderer. More importantly, I was looking at a murderer, and one who wanted to kill again.

It must have taken three seconds for me to stand and take action. Just like the cliché went, it seemed longer. Time stretched like bread dough as I stood and looked in a circle. Xaran was still sitting, looking at his father's body. Just like I hadn't given Parter a second thought, I didn't give a second thought to what I did next. Xaran would die if I didn't help him. If I left him, the Careers would kill him, and that would buy me time. All that came later, though. In the moment, I didn't think at all. I grabbed Xaran's arm and pulled.

"Go!" I screamed. He didn't hear me, but he let himself be lifted, and when I started running, he followed.

We caught up to Micah and Paris quickly, since Paris was running at Micah's pace. That meant that the Careers also quickly caught up with us. They cornered us in an area where the foliage grew so thick we couldn't clamber through it without them being able to stab us in the back.

Like four heads of a hydra, the Careers glanced in unison at each other and executed a move they all landed upon. Aisha and Atticus ran at Paris and Micah, and Athos and Logan came at us. I put my back to Xaran and put my fists up. Xaran stood tranquil, not looking at anything. I pushed him behind me and prodded him to climb into the thick vines and roots that made escape so slow. Our only hope was that they'd block the Careers' attacks until we could get out of range.

We were smaller than Athos and Logan, and that was what saved us. Our long-underfed and skinny framed slipped into crevices in the vegetal mass. We slipped between the branches as Logan and Athos tried to force past them. They hacked and shoved at the stout branches, giving us time to wiggle further in past their reach. As if by instinct, Xaran followed me close behind.

As we broke out on the other side of the roots, I heard a cannon. Xaran kept running ahead of me, and probably would forever if I didn't catch up. I looked back. Through the gaps in the trees, I could barely see a tiny form crumpling at the end of Atticus' knife. Before he could pull it out of Micah, Paris, who was right behind Micah, swung a huge branch like a bat and hit him solidly in the head. Paris followed it up with three heavy stomps to Atticus' face. The third cannon sounded before Paris swung the branch and the second when his foot was descending for the third stomp.

I'd already stopped too long. I turned to run behind Xaran. I didn't know how Paris could get out of this one, but there was nothing I could do for him. I didn't even think I could save Xaran.

* * *

_**Paris Drapper, District Nine Chosen (16)**_

* * *

Paris was going through one of the worst days of his life.

Sure, after the bloodbath of course, but still. He just couldn´t get the blood out of his clothes.

Micah had been an easy defense towards the weapon of the careers, most appropriately towards the craziness of the man from Four. Paris had just to push him down the train of thought a little bit, and make him subtly fall in love with him, and there he had one meat shield at free charge.

So damn easy it had been, for him to die and Paris to be alive. The careers, two of focused on searching for Maurie and Xaran, one dead, and the last one falling down to cry for her ally at the moment of his death.

So sad, so damn sad.

But Paris wasn´t about to cry. He was going to keep going steady and keep on surviving to get out of here. Paris Drapper was now a survivor, not a coward who dies early. No. He had already killed two careers, two powerful, trained tributes that would have killed any other tribute.

At that moment, Paris felt unstoppable. He was a force to be reckoned in his mind, a dark knight only fighting for himself, a mercenary looking for the most precious thing on the world, a simple boy looking to survive with all of his strength to other´s people malefic actions.

As he put himself in a firm posture, hands next to his body, he could only do one thing.

Smile as the sun was along as the sun was bright. Because then, at night, the hunt would. The predator versus prey battle.

And no matter what side he was, he would always win. Always. He was a hero, only to himself, but a hero nonetheless.

Nobody could stop him now. Nobody. He was going to wreck this motherfucking arena and kill of these tributes.

They weren´t people anymore. Since they entered the arena, they stopped being people and became pawns to the Capitol´s wrath and frivolity.

Him? He knew that and he didn´t care about it. He was free as a bird in the morning, before a hunter shoot it.

But now, he was the one with a gun. And the bird was gonna shoot its hunter all day long, till there weren´t nothing any more.

And then he, he heard voices. And these ones weren´t in his head, oh no, they were real. Three of them, to be exact.

And they were going to down. They were going _so _down

* * *

_Hey, happy to send a new chapter towards you! Hope you are happy!_


	32. Day Five: Happiness Does Not Last

_**Day Five**_

* * *

_**Mercy Sollozo, District Six Reaped (14)**_

* * *

_Nona walked up to me. I knew that couldn't be, but I couldn't think of why. I ran to her and hugged her._

_ "We're leaving. We're going somewhere better," she said._

_ I looked up into her face. Before I could ask where we were going, her face changed. The lines disappeared, and her features melted into themselves. The face reformed, and it was Lilith's. I backed away. Nona was there again, by my side. She pushed me behind her as Lilith took out a knife. She stabbed Nona over and over. My grandmother made little high-pitched surprised noises as the knife went in and out. She started to fall. Lilith shoved her sideways and stepped toward me._

I woke up already crying. I reached out with my arms, trying to feel where Nona was. There wasn't anything, nothing but air.

"It's okay. It was just a dream," Xander said, coming up next to me.

"No it wasn't," I said.

"No, it wasn't," he agreed. He took my hand and I curled against him as I cried.

"She killed her," I said.

"She won't get away," Xander said. "Someone will give her what she deserves."

And it wouldn't bring Nona back. I was happy to think Lilith wouldn't win, even though I knew it was wrong, but not happy like I was before Nona died. Hans stood a few steps away from us, looking like he wanted to help but was afraid someone like him could only make things worse.

"She saved me," I said so quietly only I could hear it. It was hard to understand. Someone so frail gave everything she had for someone else, and someone so strong used it to hurt someone else. I hoped someday I would be as great as Nona.

Hans sat next to us nervously and I slid closer to hug him. He went all stiff and sat up straight. He picked up an arm like a robot and didn't pat me so much as placed his hand on my back and removed it a few times.

"I found something out by the beach," Xander said. "It looks like a port."

_Something that can get us far away from here, _I thought.

"Let's go," I said.

* * *

_**Jadee Appleseed, District Eleven Reaped (13)**_

* * *

Jadee was happy for now.

How else could she be? It was pretty they were ok. The cannons that have sounded recently weren´t of any of them, they had food, water and a small amount of weapons. The necessary to survive.

They had everything they needed here. What could possibly go wrong?

"I have to go to the bathroom. Or whatever I can call it here." Tucker said. Jadee just laughed and told him to do what he wanted to do.

"Piss all over the other tributes you find!"

Cap looked at her weirdly. It seemed like he was awkward at the mere presence of her. Why would it be that way?

"Emmm, Jadee?"

"Yes Cap?"

"I guess you and Tucker are a couple?"

Jadee could do just one thing to that

"Hahahahahaha, don´t be ridiculous. Why would you say that?"

"Because I saw you two kiss the other day while I was picking berries"

"Oh, _that _thing. Well, Cap, that isn´t-

A scream appeared out of nowhere. The voice of the screamer was familiar, and it was nearby.

It was Tucker.

Jadee and Caprium instantly went on their feet and ran at the source of the scream.

What they didn´t expect to find was Tucker, with a knife in the chest.

And Paris, fucking Paris Drapper, smiling as he presses it onto Tucker´s body.

"NO!" Jadee runs to Paris, with a murdering intent. She doesn´t see anything but red on her eyes. And Paris isn´t red yet, so she must turn into it.

She takes matters into her head, and the matters are knives. Knives which she rapidly throws into Paris´ throat, and she keeps stabbing, and stabbing, and it doesn´t matter that Paris is already coughing and drowning in his blood, or that his cannon has already sounded, or that Tucker is slowly dying next to her.

She just keeps stabbing, and stabbing and stabbing. She plunges into his dead body and continues trying to kill something that is already dead, someone who isn´t a danger to anyone anymore.

"Ja-Ja-De-Dee" says a voice, a coughing voice. A trembling, weak voice is the one who speaks, and it calls Jadee for a last goodbye.

"Tucker!" She says as she goes next to him, the poor Caprium already there, holding his head like you do with elderly people or babies. So soft, so calm

"Tucker, please don´t leave us! I need you. I-I fucking need you. You can´t leave us. No!" Tears fall from her eyes, leaving her eyes like it were the eye of a storm.

"Ja-Ja-Dee, Ca-Cap, please-"

"Please what Tucky? Tells us. Please, tell us"

"Ja-Ja-De-Dee, wi-"

And then he falls onto the ground and eyes closes, and Jadee screams. She screams for him to wake up, to live, to not abandon her like Jacob did, to not let hope that for a better future.

But then, the second cannon of the day sounds, and hope is lost.

Hope is gone. Hope is dead. Hope doesn´t exist.

* * *

_**Caprium Fael, District Seven Reaped (13)**_

* * *

There was no way I was going to stay alive. Tucker was so much stronger than me. He was braver, and faster, and just more alive than I was. He was still now. He wasn't moving. He looked like a sad little statue. He was pale and cold and there was a ring of brown grass around him from where he kept bleeding and bleeding. The only thing worse was when he stopped.

"Let's go." Jadee was kneeling by Tucker. I pulled on her arm and jerked back when she didn't move. I pulled again, and she didn't move again.

"We can't leave him!" she said. She whipped her head around so I could see her face. It was scared and tear-streaked and panicked. She looked pale, even though she was dark.

"We have to stay with him," she said, though I hadn't said anything else. She draped an arm over him like she was protecting him from me.

"They'll come back and get us," I said. I didn't even know who I meant. I was afraid the other Tributes were like dogs and would smell the smell of death coming from Tucker. They'd follow it to get to him and anyone near him.

"No! I won't leave him!" Jadee bent down farther and clung to Tucker like there was something we could still keep him safe from.

I stood up and went a bit out into the trees to give her space. Maybe if she could be alone with Tucker for a while she could make peace and move on.

The forest was lovely. It looked like a paradise where nothing ever went wrong. As soon as Tucker's body was out of sight, it was like it didn't exist. I would have liked to live there if I didn't know what was in it.

The greenery shifted as something moved. It was down by my knees, but I still jumped back, my heart thumping at the thought of a Career _crawling _toward me. But then an animal walked out. It was the size of a pig, but furry like a rat and with the head of a guinea pig. I would have wanted to pet it if it wasn't for the spikes and the teeth.

_"Jadee I really think-" _I didn't get the _we should go _part out. The mutt ran at me and hit me in the chest. It pinned me under its legs and tried to bite my face. I pushed its head up with my arms, screaming and thrashing.

It fell off me sideways with a shudder of force. Its lay on its side, kicking weakly. Its mouth drooled clear liquid and its eyes went red. I looked up at Jadee, who stood over me with a heavy branch.

"I killed it," she said. _Just like Tucker, _I read in her eyes.

"Are you okay?" She crouched down by me and prodded at me. I leaned up and grabbed her into a hug. With no idea why I did it, I kissed her.

"Cap," she said after, half a question and half just surprised. "Just because I don't want you to die doesn't mean we're in love. We're just friends, right? We're too young for that."

"Yeah, I guess we are," I said. It just seemed right in the moment, but she was right. Friends could still snuggle though, apparently, because we stayed like that. I looked at the dead mutt and started to cry, and Jadee cried with me, and we didn't have to say what we were really crying about.

* * *

_**Hans Miner, District Twelve Reaped (18)**_

* * *

Hans was determined to do things right.

He had been hugged by Mercy. And he hadn´t felt the urge to hurt her or anything. It had been just a hug, just a simple hug, reminiscent of what Shouna used to give her as she cried due to being bullied by the other kids at school.

Mercy had been crying, and he just went there and accepted the hug. Nothing wrong had happened due to it.

For a moment, Hans felt as he could relax, as he felt the wind on his face, and water so near him, yet so dangerous at the same time.

"Look, dolphins!" Mercy said, on the edge of platform of the port, looking into the warm manmade sea.

As Hans went onto see it, he could only but be marveled at the beauty of those majestic animals. The elegance, the intelligence, the fantastic moves and dances of those animals was enticing to the naïve mind of the poor Hans Miner.

"What is going on-

And then Hans turned to see Xander going at them, to see the beautiful mutts with them, something happened.

Xander was there a moment, and the next one he was gone from the surface.

_What?_

"No! Xander don´t drown" Mercy´s voice came as clear as the sea and gave him the answer he needed.

The wood had broken down, and now Xander was in the water.

"Xander!" He saw him getting carried away by the sea, getting carried to a long time to the deep of the ocean.

"Look, he is with the dolphins!"

"That´s good" Hans said in a way that didn´t sound like it was good at all. "Dolphins are nice. Dolphins are always nice. Dolphins are like humane, they are good and intelligent and-

But his words were cut off by a horrible sight.

The dolphins had started to attack Xander.

Apparently, these dolphins had sharp teeth, and were gonna use on the poor tributes near them.

Xander just happened to be one of them.

"NO!" Hans jumped into the water and tried to swam, but forgot he couldn´t do it. He never knew how to. As he was suffocating on the water while Mercy tried to pull him down, the dolphins had finished their lunch and were going for dessert.

Luckily for Hans, Mercy just happened to do know how to swim a little bit, and brought back the poor guy to surface again.

As they were too shocked to cry, the gamemakers weren´t certainly happy with it.

And so, the remains of the poor Xander Bluelite of District Twelve ended up right next to them.

"What were the odds?" Could someone say.

Hans at the time was not worried anymore about Xander, or even himself. He was worried about his sister, with a baby at home on her belly, probably having a premature birth due to the stress.

And he was also worried about Mercy. Would he hurt her now that they were alone?

Would he be what Xander wanted him to be, or just another puppet on the Hunger Games?

* * *

_Ten Tributes left guys! Things are going down fast. Gonna see you soon_

_-Santiago_


	33. Day Six: Under Pressure

_**Day Six**_

* * *

_**Logan Van Diamanten, District One Reaped (16)**_

* * *

Logan is handling it.

He is doing things pretty well actually. Nobody has been bothering for a long time, and he knows that that´s good. He needs a little space of Athos, who has been crying like a baby since that boy from five died, for some reason.

Now, he knows what he has to do. It´s a plan he has been shedding for a long time. He had to think about it thoroughly, needing a lot of time and space to make it all happen. He needs elements of this arena to make it all happen. He needs a bit of decorative elements here or there.

Aisha is the key element of the plan. It´s his mission to get her somehow to…

"What are you doing?" a female voice asks. He turns around from his current activity to a see a goddess of beauty standing right in front of him, with her arena costume in her gorgeous body, perfect for modeling, and better for it than most of the District One girls.

She repeats. "What are you doing, Logan?"

"Well" he tries to explain, "Aisha, I was just as

"Well" he tries to explain, "Aisha, I was just as you can see, doing the most elemental thing a man can do for another person in a state of grief"

She just looks at him with a confusing stare.

"So, you are picking flowers for Athos?" she asks, more to her bewildered self than to Logan "Didn´t know you cared that much about him"

_Fuck. How do I recover from this?, _he thinks as he makes his way more nearer her.

"Well yeah, but mostly you." He says. "I know how much you cared about Calais and Atticus, and how you are deeply sad about your brother´s death. So here, take some."

He gives them to her, and he doesn´t know how will she react. It´s a bet that he made with himself, she gotta love the flowers, she is a girl goddamnit!

"How-How did you know these are my favorite kind of flowers?"

_YES! _He tells to himself. He got it right.

"Well, a certain bird told me"

"Was it Aias?" she says slowly, like she is going to crumble to her feet.

_What he should say? "_No- I mean yes. He was the one who told me it. He always told me we would make a great match and that I should be giving you it to make you fall in love with him, but I never gave any reason to believe I would do it. Well, until now."

And then, she hugs Logan and starts to cry. About how much she misses her brother, about she doesn´t know how to cope with his death, or any death at all in the arena. About how much she wants to complete all of Aias last wishes he made before going into the arena, but she doesn´t know how or where to start.

"Well, I guess I know where we could start, my darling…"

* * *

_**Lilith Ri-Yuen, District Eight Reaped (18)**_

* * *

Lilith is done will all this shit.

She wants action, she wants the other tributes to die, she wants blood.

It isn´t like she is in love with murder, but she thinks this is right way to handle things. She needs to be tough; she needs to handle things in a better way. She isn´t her momma´s daughter anymore, she is her own person and is going to do what she gotta do to survive. She gotta do it for her friends, for Poe and Rowan, hell, even for Willis, her stepfather. At least if she survives he will have a bit of family left.

But, she misses her mom _so_ much. She thinks she can´t handle anymore and that she is gonna cry. She avenged her father all; partly because at the moment she was gonna end Mercedes´s life, Stupid Xander and useless Hans came into view, making her leave plan behind.

_At least Xander got what he deserved the day before, _she thinks as the sun rises in the arena. The tree she slept under. She thinks she once had a bunch of sleep clothes with that kind of trees stamped into it, which now she sees she can´t only but laugh in hindsight. How could she not guess what the arena was when she saw on the first day?

It was so obvious.

She gets up from her sitting place and starts moving. She has to move; otherwise she will end up dead.

Dead. She doesn´t wanna be dead. She wants to live, even though she sees no real reason why now. Is like the survival instinct is onto her, and that her can´t stop surviving, can´t stop fighting.

She wonder what her friends will say when she comes back home. Rowan will definitely be happy. They don´t have many friends, and has been in a bad place a few months ago. They will be so happy when she comes to them, they will celebrate so much and maybe they will recover forever and won´t feel bad anymore. That would be lucky.

Poe. She doesn´t know how Poe will react to her murdering people. He will probably be quite upset and shocked at her actions in the games, as he probably never thought of her as someone that could murder anyone else, but still. She knows he will end up accepting for who she is now, and they will become friends again.

But Willis? How will he react to her getting back to District Eight again?. Will he still be her father figure, or will he let her down and be suffocated by the depression due to losing Panima? Will he be okay? Will he be alright? He needs to be alright

Will he still accept her even though she has killed people, and she now not so sure it was necessary at the moment?

"Hey, Jadee can you be a little bit slower, _please?"_

_Well, I guess there is truly only one way to find out. _

* * *

_**Caprium Fael, District Seven Reaped, (13)**_

* * *

We weren't far from Tucker's body. We'd only left so the hovercraft could come for him. As horrible as it was to imagine a cold metal claw picking him up like garbage, it was worse to think of what would happen otherwise in the hot, moist air. My chest seized when my mind brushed past it.

The sound of the hovercraft drowned out the attack. I didn't know the hawk-faced girl was there until she hit me from the side and knocked me into the grass. Her dark hair was stringy over her face as she straightened over me. Her eyes knifed into me, slanted and moving like a bird of prey. Her shoulders were hunched and the tendons in her hand stood out with her grip on her knife.

I knew there was no way out. Lilith was bigger and stronger than I was. She had a knife and I had nothing. I'd known it was coming, and it was here. This was the moment I died. I was going to see my grandfather again soon. He wouldn't be disappointed, I knew. He would just be happy to see me. I wondered if he'd look like I remembered him, or if he'd be young and strong again.

Lilith lurched and fell to a knee a step away from me. Jadee's head appeared over hers.

"Get away!" Jadee said, clinging to Lilith's back. Lilith reached back and tried to sweep her off. Jadee laid her head flat against Lilith's back and shrank tighter into her.

I scooted backwards through the grass. I should help, I thought. But she said to go. Jadee knew what she was doing. If I tried to help I'd just get in the way.

I pressed a hand against the grass and leaned onto my feet. I started to run, stumbling and almost falling flat. I heard Jadee and Lilith fighting behind me.

There was a cannon.

It came a minute too late. When I looked back over my shoulder, there was nothing but a wall of tall grass serenely swaying.

Maybe it was someone halfway across the Arena, I thought. I kept thinking it as I found a fallen tree and hid in the hollow underneath it. I kept thinking it as I peeked out, waiting for Jadee to come, as seconds stretched into minutes, and minutes stretched into hours.

* * *

_**Aisha Wayne, District Two Chosen, (17)**_

* * *

I didn't even know who I was anymore.

Ever since I started the Games, I'd been just trying to stay afloat. I'd been crying for Aias, and then for Cal and Atticus as well. I'd cried more in the last few days than I had in my life. If Aias saw what I'd become, he'd barely recognize me.

And it wasn't just that. I'd been doing things I never would have thought myself capable of. Not the killing- that was always what I'd been. Things like Logan. I could tell myself it was strategic, that I was stringing him along and insinuating myself into his favor by insinuating myself into his bed, but I'd be lying to myself as much as I was lying to him. Those were part of the reason, but there was also a cliche as old as loss. I was lonely, and in the lack of a brother to hold me, I'd turned to someone who could provide physical connection as a pale mimicry of Aias' emotional bond.

Everything I thought I had was gone. There used to be two Wayne twins. One was gone and the other was a shade. It was like a warped mirror showing me something I recognized but wasn't what was there the last time I looked. The most fundamental parts of me, from my brother to my morality, were in pieces.

I didn't want to kill anymore. Everything I'd been taught my entire life was blown apart by what I'd lived in the last few days. I'd felt the pain of Aias' death and then the lesser pain of the other allies I'd lost. I'd seen what my actions meant to the people left behind by them and it wasn't worth it anymore. Money, fame, adoration... it wasn't worth what it cost.

If the others knew how I felt, they'd kill me as easily as I used to kill. I didn't want to kill anymore and even worse, I regretted the murders I'd already committed. I was a liability at worst and at best a weakness. I'd lost my brother, and my allies were lost to me as well. I was on watch. Logan and Athos were asleep. Maybe they were pretending and giving me a grace period, but I knew Careers enough to know we didn't have grace. I took a knife and a dehydrated food pack and started walking away.

* * *

_Hey guys, only nine tributes left, so excited, am i right? _


	34. Family Interviews: Connection

**_Family Interviews_**

* * *

Samuel Livingston- Logan's friend

"All of you aren't seeing the real Logan. You don't know what he went through to make him like this. I know you're all mad he killed Kaj and I get it, but it's not that simple. Did you ever think maybe something led him to that? Maybe being overlooked or shoved aside killed any loyalty he would have had. And people forget. We're _Careers. _We don't bond. We don't let people in. We don't show mercy. In One, you put yourself first. If someone in your family can't watch their own back, they're dead weight. So don't demonize Logan if you don't have any idea what you're talking about."

Alicia Wayne- Aisha's mother

"Of course I'm disappointed to have my motherhood end like this. I've devoted my life to the Hunger Games. It's humiliating to know my name is attached to _that. _My daughter let herself degrade into a mewling whelp. I'm only glad she won't be coming home, because I wouldn't have opened the door."

Xylia Lilth- Xaran's sister

"I don't have much time to talk, sorry. I'm really busy. Mom hasn't gotten out of bed since Dad died. Xaran's not here either, of course, so that means I'm doing everything. [BEGINS TO CRY] It's really hard. I'm only seventeen, you know? I don't know how to do these things. Dad used to pack my lunch for school. [PAUSE] Now I have to make it myself, after I buy the groceries. Sorry, I really have to go. The bank is closing soon and I have to take out money for the electricity.

Julius Arkose, Stone Catullus, and Athena Courgette- Athos' Peacekeeper friends

Julius and Athena, overlapping: Hey, Athos!

Stone: Dummies, he can't hear you.

Julius: Whatever. I'm just trying to figure out why he's crying like a little _baby._

Stone: Yeah, he's making us look bad.

Athena: Friends come and go. Nothing to cry about.

Julius: He better win, or we'll never let him hear the end of it.

Petra Solozzo- Mercy's cousin

"Mercy has made it a really long way. I hope she wins. I know it's a lot to ask for, but what else can I do? I miss her a lot. I get to see her every day on TV, but that doesn't count. I want her _here _so we can play checkers and talk. I should have spent more time with her before she left. I was too busy doing "mature" things. Goodness, I'm only fourteen. I'm not mature. I have a boyfriend now. I wish Mercy was here so she could tell me I'm too young."

Willow Illinos- Caprium's friend

"I hadn't seen Caprium for a long time before he left. I mean, we _saw _each other, like around, but we used to be really close. We just kind of stopped seeing each other. We liked different things and it just stopped happening. If he comes back, I want to see him more. _When _he comes back. Thirteen-year-olds have won before. He's made it a long time. He can do it."

Willis Noveu- Lilith's step-father

"What… what do you say? The woman I loved is dead. The only part left of her is the daughter she made and I shared. How do you sort yourself out when you know that wanting one of them to come home means wanting the other one to die? I married Pamina, and I was more than happy to gain a daughter without even ever having to change a diaper! I don't know what I'll say when I see her next. I love her, she's really my daughter as much as if her genes were mine, but I chose Pamina. I want my wife back. Please don't use that last sentence in the broadcast."

Malachi Stafford- Maurie's father

[CRYING]

"My boy. It should be me. I wasn't there at the Reaping center. I was at home because of the stroke, they said I didn't have to move. They should have let me be there. I could have taken my boy's place and he wouldn't have to die instead of a worthless old man who can't even unbutton his shirt. Why can't it be me? He's young and he's strong and he has a life ahead of him. There's nothing for me. I sit in bed and watch people hurt and wait for my soul to catch up with a body that's already gone."

Akira Miner- Hans' sister

"Do you really have to be here right now? You see that lady, right? She's a midwife. Maybe that means… I'm having a baby and really shouldn't be talk-OW! See that? That was an actual contraction. OWWWW! Sonofa[REDACTED]! [REDACTED]!"

"For [REDACTED], turn it off! Make them turn it off! I am not showing everyone my muff on live televisAAAUOOWW!

[REDACTED]


	35. Day Seven: Betrayal at Bay

_**Day Seven**_

* * *

_**Xaran Lilth, District Three Reaped (16)**_

Maurie and I sat at the water's edge fishing. Usually that's where one fishes, of course: somewhere near water. But witty asides couldn't distract me from what we were talking about, no matter how much I tried.

"It's funny. No matter how many times we see people die, we still assume it can't happen to our family," Maurie said.

Dads aren't supposed to bury their sons. But what about the sons? How do you bury someone who was supposed to always be there for you? I wouldn't even get to bury him. If I did get home, he would be long in the ground. Nothing but a stone to visit.

"And it's just… forever. Everything we had with them for so long, gone like that," I said, and I threw a stone into the water, where it disappeared. A stone that might have been there forever was lost beyond all hope of recovering..

"I knew a girl who was nine when her little sister drowned in a pond. She was a normal little kid before that, always smiling and playing. She turned into a little adult that day. She was a little girl screaming in her little-girl voice as she ran around the pond yelling for the grownups to find her. When they lifted the little body from the water, she went quiet. I don't remember her ever screaming after that," I said. I didn't know why I told the story. It just resounded in me, the way death changes the one who dies and also the ones who remain. My voice was thin at the end. It was easier to cry about someone else than to admit I was crying for myself.

"I always felt responsible for people younger than me," Maurie said in a voice so small it almost wasn't there. "When you're stronger, it's your duty to shield and protect people who are still small and easy to hurt. If someone dies that small, there's someone else who didn't protect them." He wasn't talking about the girl.

"It's okay, man. You can't let it be your fault," I said. I leaned against him and put an arm around his shoulder. He leaned back into me and we were hugging.

My skin tightened all over with the pure human need for connection and the physicality of an embrace. What began as relaxation flowed into a tensing in an area I hadn't thought about in a long time. I opened my serenely closed eyes and stared in horror over Maurie's shoulder.

Oh my god what is happening? Sometimes the loins had a will of their own, but this was not the time. Maybe it meant something, maybe it meant nothing, but either way, it was incomprehensible. I wasn't looking for romance. I was mourning my dead father. Did this mean I liked Maurie that way? Or was it just one of those random moments? I wormed my hips farther away from Maurie and prayed to anything

Thank goodness Aisha appeared.

* * *

_**Athos Flint, District Two Chosen (37)**_

* * *

Athos could only feel his veins popping blood all over the floor.

That wasn´t what was happening though. What was really happening is that he had gone hunting for food, probably after Aisha went hunting for tributes, and Logan kept sleeping. And now he was crying, instead of picking a goddamn _berry. _

He wasn't focused at all. He was in a total mental chaos, and he didn´t know how to solve it. He shouldn´t be crying for someone he barely knew. For someone he couldn´t handle or do anything about. He should be man and man up and be strong, be mental stable and such.

But here he was. Crying for _goddamn _Tucker Galvani.

He wasn´t sure he was crying why he was crying. If he knew he should he would be like this he should have allied with him.

Oh god, now he is crying worse.

He can´t handle it. It´s like a monsoon of emotions that came floating to him, and trapped him inside a bowl of sadness. He doesn´t wanna cry, but he can´t help it. He cries and cries and cries, and he thinks he is going to die of sadness.

Oh god, like _Tucky_ died.

More tears fall from his eyes. He is feeling not well. Not well at all.

He remembers the time they made him take the vasectomy. He remembers that he didn't want to do it at the time, that he was so goddamn young, and at that time he still wanted to someday have kids. He still wanted to a family man, to be someone who had a legacy to uphold and to have someone who loved him survive him.

But no. To be a peacekeeper strong measures had to be taken. During the years that the action was taken by the Peacekeeping Academy, he was a still a youth. A simple, naïve youth that all he wanted is to have a legacy- no, a son. A daughter and wife.

But no. To be someone in District Two you gotta be a peacekeeper. And to be one, you must be sterile.

The Capitol takes no chances with this. After a long line of D12 peacekeepers started fornicating with the resident of the land, the Capitol couldn´t stand it anymore and went mayhem. No more opportunities for you, soldiers. Just a line to follow, and if you stray for it, you will be executed and die.

Athos is just crying. He cries as he picks berries. He cries chops a tree with his axe. He cries as he kills a deer. He cries as cannon sounds.

_Probably the District Seven boy, since his last ally died. _

Then, he realizes that everyone is watching him. They are all watching him cry. Cry like a _motherfucking _baby.

"What the hell are you watching here?! Do you think this is fun?! To see cry me. Yes, I am crying. A peacekeeper is crying."

That moment, Athos stops crying and walks to the base.

It will be a new day soon.

* * *

_**Logan Van Diamanten, District One Reaped (16)**_

* * *

Logan wakes up to the sound of a cannon.

_Hmmmm, another day with dear Aisha. _

_Wait, where is she? _ Logan walks around the camp, and doesn´t see either in the camp or around the camp.

He doesn´t see Athos anywhere.

_Where are they? Did they leave me?_

But can´t be that. Most supplies are still here. So where could they be, he asks himself.

_Wait, there was a cannon? Oh no._

"Aisha! Athos! Aisha!" He yells at the air, knowing he will probably get an answer any time soon.

But still, he gets one right away.

Athos comes up from the trees and he is there, with a bunch of berries in one bag and… _blood_ on his axe.

_Oh no he didn´t!_

"What is wrong Athos?" He says, cleaning liquid from his face. It looks like if someone had spit on him with saliva! _Did he do what I think he did?_

"Emmm, Athos?

"Yeah?"

"Do you know where Aisha could be?"

"No, why?"

"Nothing, nothing really. Could you turn around for a moment? I think one berry feel on the floor behind you."

He turns around to see, well, the floor. "Logan, I don´t see any-

And then a slash. Athos´s throat bleeding and Logan behind him, with a bloody knife in his hands.

Athos barely has time to turn around before falling to the ground, and ending up there, bleeding, suffocating in his own blood, with no way out.

No way out of dying.

And Logan is just there, angry and sad, because he knows he killed Aisha. Itis the only conclusion he has for the moment, and probably the only one who knows the truth about her.

Because she couldn´t have just left him. No, no after their special moment.

Not after _that_

He still remembers going inside her, leaving the flowers aside on the floor, and just turning to passion. He still remembers her not wanting to make it a big deal, and being still after the fact. People like Kaj would call it a quasi-rape, but it was consented! No one can tell him otherwise.

No, she had to have loved him till the day she died. She had to, she had to.

There is no other possible way.

None.

* * *

_**Maurie Stafford, District Ten Chosen (22)**_

_(**Before**)_

It was good to hug someone. Xaran and I were both hurting and when we held each other it was like we absorbed each other's pain. That would seem like we'd have the same amount of pain as before, but someone else's pain was easier than your own. This was a messed-up, screwed-up situation. We needed any comfort we could get. It was like a splash of aloe on a throbbing burn.

Xaran stiffened. In a flash we pushed off from each other and turned to face whatever he'd reacted to. It was Aisha, standing fifteen feet off and not moving. She didn't look like she had before. Everyone lost weight in the Arena, even the Careers, but she'd lost more than she should have. Her countenance was ashen. Her hair was dull. But she had a knife stuck into the waist of her pants, where she could easily get to it.

Xaran didn't let her. He grabbed a spear and shot to his feet.

Aisha held up her hands. "Wait," she said, all soft and broken like a bereft lover. "I don't want to-"

Xaran threw the spear. It passed through her chest like a needle through fabric. She looked at us sadly before she settled to the ground. She lay tilted on her side, looking up at the sky. I saw the trail left by a tear on her cheek.

"What have you done?!" I screamed at Xaran. It was clear I wasn't mad at him. I was mad Aisha died.

"I killed her," he said without inflection. His head and eyes tilted in recognition.

"She wasn't-" I started yelling and it broke into a wail. "She wasn't going to hurt us."

She wasn't going to say 'I don't want to die,', I knew but didn't say. She was going to say 'I don't want to hurt you.'

"I know," Xaran said. There was so much we both knew. Aisha hadn't wanted to kill us. But it didn't matter. Aisha would kill us, or try to, eventually. It didn't matter that she hadn't wanted to kill us or that Xaran hadn't wanted to kill her. We were in the Hunger Games. None of us had any say in our future anymore.

"It's all right," I said without force or weight. Xaran said nothing back. It was not all right. Nothing we could say or do would make it so. A tear shone in the sun as it dropped from Xaran's jaw. In the silence between us, the cannon sounded.

We gathered our things and started walking. Aisha's body was in that place, a damning reminder of what we'd done. When we heard the hovercraft we knew we were far enough. We sat down and watched it fly overhead and hugged once more.


	36. Day Eight: Life and Death

_**Day Eight**_

* * *

_**Caprium Fael, District Seven Reaped (13)**_

* * *

Jadee was gone. I waited and waited, but she never came. Then I got the last look I would have of her looking out at nothing in the sky. Her face was still and lifeless. It was like looking at a corpse. That's what she was now. She was on her way home. She was on a train somewhere, riding in a box. The train shook on the tracks and she jostled in the box. That's what she was now- something that was jostled.

Everyone I had was gone. Grandpa was gone. I never could have imagined life without him. He was the one that took care of me and showed me what the world would be for me. And my parents. They died so early I could barely remember them. I remembered how when my father held me his hands were rough with calluses. I remembered that my mother had long shiny hair. I remembered the day they didn't come back from work. For a year I didn't know why. Grandpa thought I was too young, but I guess by the time I turned six the world had its claws in me and I wasn't innocent anymore.

The Arena took all the friends I'd made. Tucker, Kaj, Jacob, it took them all. It took all of us except the one who it left to remember. I'd already lost so much. I didn't understand why there had to be things like this in the world.

My hands were around my knees and I was crying when I saw something. It moved so slowly and plainly that I wasn't scared. A Career would move with more purpose and an outlier with more fear. I lifted my head and saw a deer looking at me. Just like back before I was Reaped, a deer. It had brown eyes with long lashes and teardrop-shaped ears that curved back.

It's the one from before, I thought, and knew it wasn't true. This deer was smaller and had more spots. It was something special, I knew. This deer was something more. It's Jadee, I thought. It never crossed my mind that it was Grandpa. He lived as long as a person should and he died protecting was no reason for him not to be at peace. But a girl not even fourteen who was cut from life to satisfy someone who never even knew her... that was a soul that might come back.

I stood and walked toward the deer. She stopped but didn't run. It stood still as I approached. The forest went silent again, like before the Reaping. The deer's eyes flickered to follow me. She looked right at me- at my eyes, not at any part of me that might attack. I wondered if she wanted to say something to me.

I stood a foot away from the deer. I was close enough to touch it. I lifted a hand and hovered it above the deer's nose. I set it down. The deer's fur was velvety under my fingers.

The deer yanked her head back. She reared on her hind legs and stepped forward to bring her front legs down on me. I saw then the expression in her eyes wasn't friendship or recognition but malice. I ran, and the deer ran after me.

* * *

_**Mercy Sollozo, District Six Reaped (14)**_

* * *

"Seven left. We're in the final seven," Hans said.

"I didn't think I'd make it this far," I said. When Nona was here, she said I could make it, and I believed her then. When my crazy grandma died, she took her crazy ideas like hope with her. Every day I woke up trying to make it through the day but never thinking farther than that.

When I saw Hans' face I wished I could take it back. People reacted to things like this differently. Some people would have imploded. They would have crushed inward and buckled into sadness and resignation. Hans was exploding outward instead. I could see his limbs all tense and thrumming with energy. He was shaking, actually shaking with stored-up emotion.

"We can make it, though," he said. "We can make it. We don't have to die. I don't want to die." He looked at me with the panicked eyes of a child running to his mother's bedside in the night.

"Yes. We can make it," I said. I moved closer and laid a hand on his back. I kept saying it. I kept saying it because I was afraid if I lost momentum, I would start breaking down with him. I was scared too. He needed me to be the strong one right now but I wasn't. I just had to fake it.

"I wish Xander was here," Hans said. "Everything was okay when he was here. I wish he was here to help us." He said Xander's name over and over. He drew it out in his mouth like it was something to be savored and respected. He didn't really think Xander could come. He was just holding on to all he had left of him: his name.

I'd seen things like this before. Usually it was my cousin Treader. Treader didn't take excitement like other people did. When something upsetting happened, sometimes he got all panicky, so bad he would shake and gasp and he was always sure he was having a heart attack even though he was eleven years old. If he lived in the Capitol he would have medicine or a therapist. In Six we just had family.

"It's okay. We're going to get through this," I said. I knew to keep my voice low and level and to make soothing motions with my hand on his back. With Treader, the most important thing was letting him know it was okay to feel like that and that we were there for him. I stayed soothing him like that for a few minutes. He started to breathe more deeply and then to stop shaking.

"How do you know it will be okay? How do you know we won't die?" Hans asked.

"I don't know we won't die," I said. His eyes went scared again. "But it's okay if we do." Nona was still there for me, even though she was gone. "Humans are more than bodies and minds. When we die, there's something more after. If one of us dies, it will be okay. We'll see each other again."

"Are you sure?" Hans asked.

"I'm sure," I said without hesitating. Whether I believed it or not- and I did- it was the only thing to do.

I stood up. Now we needed to start something productive so Hans couldn't lapse back into anxiety. "Let's find a place to stay, okay? I'll check this cabin."

* * *

_**Lilith Ri-Yuen, District Eight Reaped (18)**_

* * *

Lilith is ready to do this.

She doesn´t know what she will do next, but she is ready. The words float around in her brain, telling her she must be ready, that there is no other way it can happen, her survival being the it and her death being the no other way. Her spirit feels weightless, no longer holding her back with dumb morals and dumb correctness.

Killing small animals and eating anything she can find? She has done it. Killing a small little girl to survive? She has done it. Killing an old lady who couldn´t even fight back? She has done it. It feels pointless to discuss what is right and what isn´t anymore. She has done what she had to do, and she isn´t going to hold back anymore.

So then, when she hears a voice, she can´t help but smile. She is going to get what she wanted after all.

"Hans, i am gonna search on here. Wait for me for a second."

It is the perfect plan. She, inside this somewhat cabin with pretty bad architecture design, she must say, she sees Mercy go inside the cabin, and she hides inside the bathroom. When she sees her, oh when she her things are going down.

She waits and she waits, and she sees the girl through the lock walking around her, inspecting her temporary home, being ready to fight back at any given chance. Being ready to attack, to devour her soul.

Being ready to kill her. And then she, the poor fourteen year old, is opening the bathroom door, and the killer, oh the demon-ish Lilith, who is waiting inside the bath tub with the curtains put in their place for a surprise attack. And then the little girl, who is just washing her face, gets her mouth covered by a hand, a devilish hand and the stabbing starts.

The dance begins. The blood falls to the ground and she screams, oh Mercy screams, but she has no mouth anymore and she must scream. Her screams fall on wrong ears, as only her killer is the one who hears her, the walls being like sound-proof windows, where everybody on TV can see her, but nobody can hear her. Nobody can hear her pain, or her suffering. She is dying and bleeding and dying and falling apart, but nobody does anything, nobody.

As she stars losing count of the stabs and the cannon sounds, Lilith doesn´t stop. She doesn´t stop until she hears the entrance door open, and then she stops, not because she wants to do, not because she feels like it, but because she is getting ready for her next target.

She can´t wait for it.

* * *

_**Hans Miner, District Twelve Reaped (18)**_

* * *

Hans is worried

How can he not be worried? He is alone with Mercy and left to root on this dangerous land called "The Arena of the freaking Hunger Games". He is danger, and Mercy is in danger. How can he do anything but screw things up?

Mercy has taken a lot in the cabin; she is probably in the bathroom.

He needs to get away from her, but he can´t do it. It´s something that is drawing her near him. Likewise the inverse. But he needs to get away, to keep himself safe. However, he also needs to keep _her _safe. It´s a dual feeling with two sides pulling from his arms, each string hurting more and more still she or he bleeds.

That´s it, after the next death he is out of the alliance.

_BOOM!_

Well, how fast. He should go tell Mercy the alliance is out.

He opens the door, and it´s all very quiet. No liquid or poor falling or neither any smell of farts.

_Weird. _

He inspects the kitchen. There is not much food there, but there is some. The kitchen has not been moved a lot. Poor Mercy, not caring much about food anymore.

He moves around the house, from the bedroom, to the living room, to the bathroom… Wait, that´s over there?

A red liquid. A little girl´s body.

Mercy´s.

He goes over there and starts holding her, he doesn´t know why, but he cares. Oh damn he cares. He is not a bad person and he wasn´t going to hurt her, but his fears had gotten in the way and it´s pain now. Pain, utter disgusting pain who feels his veins.

"Hello, _Hansie" _

With revenge they are filled.

"How could you do this, Lilith?" He asks while in sobs. "How could do this to her? She is dead, and she was a little girl, and we know she was going to die, but _how could you do this?" _She is barely recognizable anymore. It´s her hair the only reason she still seems Mercy. She is destroyed, her body is broken beyond repair and she is _DEAD, _utterly broken _DEAD. _

"Are you upset little Hansie? Did I kill your girlfriend?" She says and she laughs, oh, the monster laughs.

"Ups"

That´s enough for Hans, as he takes the knife out of Mercy´s and directs it towards Lilith. She escapes the stab, not one, but two, three, four times, till she punches Hans in the stomach, almost rendering him useless.

Almost. He continues driving his knife, each time closer to Lilith. Each time something in the house falling, each time the audience of Panem and the Capitol roaring for their tribute to win, each time getting one step closer to ending a life.

_It won´t be hard, _Hans thinks, _as she is monster, and a monster knows how to kill another one. _

For Hans, it´s feels like an eternity before the battle ends. He feels dead after the fight, with no energy to move, and he just falls to the ground like dead weight.

Like Lilith is, bleeding, screaming, and Hans, in the floor, exhausted, keeps stabbing her. Keeps bringing all to a full circle.

Keeps bringing death to the world.

Because to Hans Miner it doesn´t matter that he is a monster anymore. Only that there are worse.

And they must die. They must get rid of, and die. Die, a painful death.

That´s karma for Hans. And for the world.


	37. Day Nine: The Storm before the Storm

**_Day Nine_**

* * *

**_Logan Van Diamanten, District One Reaped (16)_**

* * *

Logan had been tired since a long time.

He just threw himself there, under the rain. He didn´t think it would stop anytime, but maybe it would.

Maybe it would all stop. Maybe all the other tributes will kill each other or die by mutts and he wouldn´t have to worry about them not one more second.

He is tired. He is so goddman tired and he misses Aisha. He remembers with like and love when they had sex, after he gave her the flower of love, or that´s what he called it in his mind since it led to sex.

He misses Athos, but he deserved to die due to what he did to Aisha. He doesn´t what he did, but he knows it is probably something bad, since he ended up seeing her in the sky that night.

He misses Aias. He didn´t kill him so it wasn´t his fault, and even though he doesn´t have an inch of regret on his body for making that plan, since it is almost leading him to win the games, as he is the only career left, he misses his friendliness he usually had during training, and the chariots. And well everywhere. He remembers his sweet, sweet smile. It made him seem like a little kid, and he probably was if he died.

And he did, he was a little child. A little, small, skinny, with no ways to protect himself child, who died because he was useless and a coward and he couldn´t do things right.

Yeah, that was what Aias was.

_You will end up the same_, Some weird part of his brain tells him that he won´t be able to do things right. That he will die like his alliances mates and that he was person.

_You must atone for your crimes_, his brain tells him.

"You know, brain" Logan says out loud. "I think you can suck my dick"

His brain shuts up the minute he tells him that.

Fortunately for him, the appears to be stopping raining, so Logan is slowly putting himself to work around here.

But then, he hears it. Someone disrespecting Aisha´s name. Saying bad things about her.

And he won´t let that happen.

* * *

**_Xaran Lilth, District Three Reaped (16)_**

* * *

History was spilling out of Maurie. The story of a life of a human being who was more than a face the Capitol watched to see when it would die. Maurie had a life and a family and a past. He didn't spring into being when a Capitolite read his name from a paper.

"You know how it is," Maurie was saying. "Micah was... you know, I was my hero. A kid needs someone to look up to other than his dad. Even if you have a great dad, there are things you can't talk about with him. That was me for Micah."

"I didn't understand it when I started pulling away. I thought I was doing something wrong. I used to stay up at night wondering what I did to make him mad. Then the night before the Games he finally told me."

"What did he say?" I asked.

Maurie smiled sadly. "It wasn't me at all. It was my dad. My dad had a stroke and I was busy caring for him. Boy, that made him feel even worse. Here he was wondering why I didn't pay attention to himand it was because my dad was dying." Maurie's voice went harsh and he fell quiet. I didn't want to make myself the center of attention, but it was the kind of silence a guy wanted filled for him, so I added my story.

"My family always got along pretty well. This one time we all went to a planetarium. That's about the only place people can go for fun in Three. I was being a real good kid, even though I must have been about seven and when you're that young it's hard to stay quiet. Funny thing is that it was Xylia and Dad that started making a scene. I don't even remember what they were fighting about. Something stupid, like Xylia asking if Dad would be mad if she got a nose ring. And I remember she pointed at a model and screamed 'I should just move to Pluto and you won't have to see it!' and he said 'It would take you ninety years, will you still want a nose ring when you're ninety?'" I started to laugh, and then my nose went drippy and I was crying. "I miss him," I said thinly.

Even though it had gotten better over the decades, lots of boys still thought sadness was "weak". Anger, though, was "strong". Socialization took over and I shifted my tears into shouts. I shouted unrepeatable words at no one and eveyone. Maurie's hand was on my arm as he tried to calm me down. I shook him off and screamed louder.

"Fuck you!" I screamed to Aisha. To my dad. To the Gamemakers and President Myriad and the Capitolites and everyone involved in this abortion of a spectacle. Over and over again I screamed it. In that moment, I didn't care the attention it would attract from the Capitol. And I didn't care what attention it would attract in the Arena. I didn't care until I saw the spear headed our way- headed Maurie's way. Then I got my head out of my self-pity and acted. It was my last act.

* * *

**_Maurie Stafford, District Ten Chosen (22)_**

* * *

I didn't see the spear until Xaran was dead on the ground. Xaran, my friend, who took a spear for me like it was nothing. And there was no time to mourn him, because Logan was still coming for me.

"Don't you talk about her!" he yelled. At first I didn't know who he was talking about. It took me a moment to connect his anger with Xaran's hardly-meant tirade against half a dozen people, Aisha among them. I wouldn't have pegged Logan for a misguided Arena romance. But nothing should surprise me anymore.

I had a knife in my hand, but I still ran from Logan. A knife didn't make up for what he had. Paper-sharp leaves whipped against my face as we ran through the forest and into a clearing. I heard the waterfall before I saw it. When I did see it, I ran into the pool at its base. The water slowed me down, but I knew if I could get far enough in before Logan caught me, he would lose me in the churning foam and thundering noise.

Logan ruined that plan. He sprinted in after me. I knew the chaos of waist-deep water would play right into the hands of a Career trained in quick decision-making, so I got back out to at least face him like a man. He charged out of the shallows and stabbed his spear at me. It ripped a slice out of my shirt and scored a furrow in my skin before I could slip sideways. Half a dozen more attacks followed. It was all I could do to squirm out of the way.

At my wits' end, I did something crazy. I grabbed his spear and instead of trying to yank it away, I pushed. He'd been expecting me to try to disarm him, so when I shoved the spear instead, it slammed into his stomach and he gasped. He took a step back, allowing me to get a better position. I pressed my advantage and slashed at his hand. I could feel the flesh resisting the blade as it scored his fingers.

_Do something else crazy! _I screamed at myself. I lifted a knee and stomped Logan's foot. While my foot was still pinning his, I shoved him back. An unexpected snapping noise echoed in the air as he fell. I didn't realize until he was down that I'd broken his ankle.

He wasn't done, though. He grabbed my leg and yanked. I twisted as I fell so I landed on top of him and my elbow hit his face. His nose imploded and blood flooded his face. I flung myself up and off of him and kicked him in the side. I followed it up with more and more kicks all across his body. I aimed a final one at his head. It snapped back and he lay dazed on the ground.

I sat on him, one leg on either side of his chest, and put both my hands on the knife for stability. He was still stunned, though that would only last a couple of seconds. I was going to make the most of that time.

"This is for everything the Careers have ever done to us," I hissed, and I brought my hands down.

A shrieking noise of agony split the air. My hands, still in midair, stopped in shock. Then Logan's hands were on my wrists and my knife was penetrating my chest. I fell to my side and Logan shoved me as he got up. Whoever screamed was nowhere in sight.

"Oh," Logan said, blood still dripping down his chin as he regarded me with a gory smile. "You thought you could kill me?"

He didn't stay around to watch me die. He left me to watch him limping away. And he was limping, something I could carry with me to the other side. I thought about that for a while. Then my thoughts changed to more important things. Xaran. Parter, briefly. And finally Micah and my father. They were something worth spending last thoughts on.

* * *

**_Caprium Fael, District Seven Reaped (13)_**

* * *

I curled wedged in a tiny cave in a rock wall. I was a little below ground level in a hollow, and the grass that grew around the rocks hid the cave from view. If I'd found this earlier I might never have left it. But then, earlier, I had allies. Now it was just me and the monster deer I was hiding from.

Hours went by as I cowered. I was hungry and thirsty, but it didn't make a difference if going out meant I would get killed. But when rain started pattering on the ground outside my shelter, I couldn't hold back. I crawled to the edge of the cave and peeked out through the grass. I didn't see the deer. I poked out hand out, then the other, then cautiously crawled out.

_I wish I had a cup_, I thought as I stood getting damp under the rain. _I guess I don't really need one_. I tilted my head back and opened my mouth like a little kid. Water droplets plopped in. They tasted sweet and delicious. It would take forever to get full, but I didn't mind. Water dribbled down my hair and I stood wet in the rain like Grandpa always told me not to do. For those moments, I felt like a kid again. And as many moments as it took, I did eventually feel full.

It couldn't last. Of course it couldn't last. It wasn't a Career that broke the moment. It was the horrible deer that had just left my thoughts, the one I couldn't convince myself wasn't something the Capitol made out of a dead girl's soul. It came, and I ran.

The Capitol made a monster. They made it fast, but not as fast as a real deer. They made it so it could chase me and they could watch as I started to hope I might be able to get away. It would have caught me eventually, but then I remembered something Grandpa told me. It was about bears, but it would work here too. He said that bears are fast, but the big ones can't climb. If it's a little bear you're just out of luck, funny enough, but a big bear is too heavy to climb. And deer can't climb at all.

I threw myself on the tree like I was trying to jump over a gate. My hands and feet found holds and I climbed like a squirrel. The deer hit the tree as I was five feet off the ground. It was too far below to reach me, but it kept trying, butting the trunk again and again and shaking it as I climbed. I didn't stop until I was at the top.

At the top, I tucked in and hunkered down, waiting for the deer to leave. After a few minutes it stopped ramming the tree. It didn't leave, though. It lurked at the foot of the tree, circling and pawing at the ground. It tossed its head angrily up at me. And finally, after long minutes of anxious waiting, it left.

_It's gone. _I relaxed. And my hands slipped, and I fell.

I screamed as I fell. It was a high reedy wail.

It stopped when I hit the ground. I hit, and it didn't hurt. The instant my body hit the ground, my body crumpled. It was like the air went out of me. I was empty. Nothing hurt. I felt like I was nothing at all. Just a soul hanging weightless just above the ground.

I told my legs to move. They didn't. I told my arms to move, and they didn't. I lay like I was trying to rest, my arms out slightly and my legs flat. Slowly it came to me. I wasn't in pain, but it wasn't because I wasn't broken. I was broken in the worst way. Somewhere along my back I was shattered so bad the nerves couldn't connect anymore. Not to my legs, not to my arms, not anywhere in my body but my head and neck.

I didn't know I was bleeding until I saw it. I'd just been laying there feeling peaceful. When I saw the blood, it brought back all the terror and panic. I started to whimper and then to mindlessly call for help. I didn't know who I was calling. There was no one coming to help me.

But someone did come. A figure appeared in the distance and I strained my head to see who it was. When I saw, I didn't know whether to cry harder or just close my eyes. It was Hans.

* * *

**_Hans Miner, District Twelve Reaped (18)_**

* * *

Hans doesn´t know what to do. He sees himself, and he is lingered by what he has to do now.

He has to kill an innocent person.

Sure, the boy is handicapped and has his back broken, but he has to die for him to come home and do what Xander couldn´t do.

Keep his baby safe.

He has to do it, not only for him, but also for Akira. God knows what his sister might be going through right now, the pain she must be suffering at the loss of her husband is this horrible games.

But, alas, something gotta give. And he has to die

_You could play a little with him. His brain tells him, Do whatever you want with_-

"NO!" he yells at nowhere. It doesn´t matter that he has to die, cause he will even if does nothing and lets him bleed to death. He has to do it, he has-

_Come on, toy with him, do what you want with him. You know you want to._

He has to force a thought into shutting down the main thought.

_Hans doesn´t want to hurt anyone. He wants to live a happy, normal life, you got it, dumbass brain?!_

_But-_

_NO! You hear me. Hans is going to be a good person and die this guy´s life before he suffers more pain, not toy with him, got it?_

_But-_

_I freaking told you, SHUT THE FUCK UP. I don´t like you brain. You give me all these weird thoughts I don´t want to have, and that if i followed them, I will end up in jail, dead, or making people feel pain. I don´t want that, you hear? I DON´T FUCKING WANT THAT, SO YOU BETTER SHUT UP BEFORE I KILL MYSELF AND YOU CEASE TO EXIST TOO, got it?!_"

For some reason, this calms Hans´ brain and he kneels over Cap´s body. The poor little semi-unconscious from the pain he had been given from the fall, and surely on his way to Heaven.

"I am sorry you had to die this way, little man" He tells him as he knells over him and closes his knife to his throat. "I am sure you are in a lot of pain due to your relatives and allies´ deaths, so I can assure you will go to Heaven now."

He introduces the knife into the throat, and Cap´s eyes close almost instantly. It´s isn´t peaceful, death never is, but he tried the best he could, Hans thinks.

So that´s what counts in the end, he guesses.


	38. Finale: Ohana

**Hear Background Music: Epic Tension and Mysterious for the finale music ambient**

* * *

_**Finale**_

* * *

Hans knew he had to do whatever it took to survive.

He didn´t care anymore about what he should do to win. It didn´t bother him anymore. He had to do what he had to. And he was ready

Logan, on the other hand, was angry. His foot had been stumped by Maurie, and now he couldn´t move very well. But he still could.

And that´s what mattered.

Even though in Day Nine they were near the other, none of them encountered the other. Logan went west and Hans went south, from where he had come from. Even though both of them wanted this to end, none of them knew how to do it. Neither of them felt prepared to the final battle, and so they wandered for three days.

On the first, Logan saw again his previous camps. Where he had killed Athos, and now blood remained. Now, he wasn´t sure he was the one to kill Aisha. Had it been truly him who had killed Aisha? Had he been her true murderer?

Had he done the right thing?

On the second, Hans found the cabin where the event happened again. He saw it, all the blood, splattered through the floor. He thought and how this was surely gonna either become a museum, if he got out and did something about it… or probably a resort to people to go on vacations if they died.

He couldn´t let that happen. Not for Mercy´s or Xander´s memory. Not for himself. Not for Akira.

Not for anyone.

On the third day, the capitol got bored.

And when they get bored, _they do something about it._

Like something with tigers maybe.

"YES!" Said a capitol small child, as tigers chased Hans and Logan with only one purpose.

A very obvious purpose, even for that child.

_Death was incoming_

Hans ran for all his life. He wanted to live. He wanted to do anything in his power to be someone else, to be let live a life that he would have if he got out. Maybe he would get married with a man, or a woman, someone who didn´t want children. He never wasn´t attracted to people his age. It is just that his sexual thoughts were deviant.

And he needed to prove himself that he was more than that.

Meanwhile, Logan, after unsuccessfully trying to get rid of the tigers by himself, had started running for his life. If he was gonna die this way, he wanted to say something.

That he was sorry. That he didn´t mean to do all the things he did. That he shouldn´t have killed Athos, because if he didn´t he would be helping him here getting rid of the last tribute. Someone he couldn´t believe had gotten so far. He was a nobody, 4 in score and scared most of the time.

How had he gotten so far?

The two ran and ran, and it didn´t stop. They were desperate, trying to get somewhere, a place where the madness would end.

And then Logan felt sand on his feet, and he looked back and only saw sand. The tigers weren´t there anymore.

But someone was close to him. A few feet away from him, to be exact.

His opponent. That´s the only he saw when he looked in front of him. His rival, his enemy. Someone who had to go for him to win and get his honor back, his pride returned to his natural land. A monster in his story.

At the same time, Hans saw a monster too. Someone who thrived in someone´s else murder. Someone who needed to die, not because he had to live, but for the sake of the world. A villain.

They were a long but rather too short distance from each other, near the port that they will be the place of crowning of the victor. They could see each other; they could see what they should do in their minds. But they still didn´t run and attack each other from some reason.

Logan didn´t know what was holding the District Twelve boy back. And he didn´t know what was holding him back either. Was this fear? No, it couldn´t be

Hans didn´t have any fear. He was just thinking. He was calm and processing information he had to have to win.

And he had a plan.

For a moment, they looked at each other in the eye. Then, Hans looked at the port and ran.

Logan then followed him suit, trying to catch his adversary and trying to end this a battle. Like a true man would do.

Hans, in the port now, took a large piece of wood from it and prepared himself for the upcoming drama.

Logan threw his knife to Hans, but he used the wood to cover for him. The knife, now in Hans hands, was then thrown to Logan, who barely dodged it.

Logan then grabbed the spear and prepared himself to hit Hans. Hans, who was prepared for it, avoided being killed in such a manner by rolling in the ground of the port. Then he stood up and hit Logan with wood right straight in the face. Logan fell in the ground and that´s when Hans started to hit. All over and over and over again.

But Logan what he had to do. He kicked Hans´ wood before he continued hitting him, and threw Hans off of himself. Logan, then, threw another knife, which also missed and fell in the water.

Hans prepared to hit Logan again, but then got hit straight into the face. One and two and three times. Logan wasn´t here to hold back, and he wouldn´t stop. He had to do this.

Hans ended up on the floor, on the edge of the port, almost falling into the water, with Logan above him. He was going to lower his spear and was going to kill him.

But then Hans fought back. He grabbed the spear before it could land on him and punched Logan right on the nose. He continued to punch until they were on the side on the port, and the situation had been reversed.

"What are you gonna do? Throw me into the water? HA!" Logan said while about to be on the water.

And then Hans did exactly that.

He wanted the dolphins to solve the problem for him. He didn´t want to have more blood in his hands, even though it sounded bad for a tribute to think that.

And when he was about to turn around and let him die, something grabbed him.

And he fell into the water.

There, the atmosphere was different. The sounds were quiet, even though Logan should be somewhere.

For a second, he put his head of water and breathed. And then the District One boy was in front him

"Hello" he said. And then dragged Hans´ head under the water.

Hans couldn´t see anymore. He wasn´t breathing the way he should. He was trying to get his head out, but he couldn´t because of the strength Logan had in his hands. He was gonna die, and he was gonna lose, and then Akira would be all alone, the baby would be all alone, and Mercy´s memory would be lost. Logan was gonna live and have a good laugh and be happy, with no consequences for his actions as a career. Hans was gonna be the villain, the runner-up, the second place guy. The loser.

The monster in the story.

He was about to close his eyes for good when he saw it.

His savior.

He grabbed the knife from the water, and with the few strength he had left, plunged it into Logan.

A very special part of Logan.

His face at that moment could only but be described as the mere personification of pain itself. He screamed and let go of Hans´ head, which lead him to the opportunity to get out, breath and try to swim out of the water.

Logan could only keep screaming. "AH, GET BACK HERE AND FIGHT LIKE A MAN!"

Hans only continued swimming back to the beach, as he felt various forces in the water nearing the place.

Logan was screaming, this couldn´t be happening. He was supposed to win without much effort! And it hurt a lot. He just needed to go back to the coast and finish his job.

And then the hungry-blood monsters came.

"AHH!" Logan shouted as the beasts started surrounding him.

Hans then started doing the only thing he could.

Watch.

The creatures then jumped Logan, blood erupted, and the rest was simple.

The trumpets sounded. Hans could only keep breathing

"_Our victor of the Centennial Hunger Games is Hans Miner from District Twelve!"_

He had a lot to do now.

* * *

_Boy, was that a nice trip. _

_Hope you liked it and prepare for some nice epilogues!_

_Goodbye and see you soon_

_-Santiago and LCS_


	39. Coronation: Master of the Disguise

Hans has been sleeping for a while now.

Well, technically, after he was the only tribute left, the hovercraft came for him. There he just kind felt into a deep sleep. And he had been sleeping since that day.

The doctors attended him while he was sleep. They gave him all the medicine they had to fix the small issues he had in his body. Like scars or something. It is unknown if it really had anything, all that can be known is that they looked over him as some kind of devilish guardian angels.

Then, he woke up. The victor had ascended from the ashes and then he was ready to do everything he needed to do to go home.

Or so he thought.

After finishing up cleaning himself up, he went to the talk with his mentor.

"Is it going to be as bad as the victors before… you know, the Second Dark Days?" He had heard stories about what happened to the victors before that. Getting sold as merchandise, as sexual merchandise for perverted Capitol citizens, it was something he didn´t want. It was something he might have deserved, but it was something he didn´t want.

"Myriad is bad president, but he is not _that _evil. Hell, he punished the guys who had enslaved me my whole life with death penalty, so there´s that." Ashmira said while playing with her while looking away from Hans.

"Cool, cool" If it was gonna happen, he was decided to go along with it, but if it didn´t he would cool with it.

What fate decided was fine by him.

Some days later the interview came by. And he didn´t know if he was prepared to be in it.

He was gonna be shown his friends dying again, which was well, not nice per se, but if it had to happen, it had to happen. But having that happen, while Lorenzo is doing his nasty remarks about his friends died.

Not cool, not cool at all.

Ashmira tells him everything will be just fine, but he isn´t sure about that.

And as he steps on the stage, he knows he should expect the worst.

"Oh, here it is! I present you, the victor from the fourth quarter quell, the shiny, user of dolphins, master of the waves, Hans Miner from District Twelve!"

_Why is he complimenting me so much?_

"Oh, thank you Lorenzo." He says as he takes the seat. "I must say I am glad to be here"

"Anyone would be glad to be alive my man, so don´t say dumb shit" The audience laughs and Hans gets a little upset about this, but moves on.

"What are you gonna question on me today?"

"Aha! Smart guy, who thinks will get to outsmart big Lorenzo. Don´t think so my man, don´t think so."

Lorenzo continues. "So, how does it feel to be able to control and be responsible for four deaths in the arena?"

_Four deaths, what is he saying. Lilith, Cap, maybe he means he means and_

_No, he didn´t_

Lorenzo continues with his charade. "I mean, we saw how you were the master of the dolphins back there, and you mind controlled them. It is obvious to one who dictated the death of Xander, right?" And he goes on "Does it feel good to have killed your bestie, huh?"

_He is taunting you, don´t listen to him and stay calm_

"I didn´t control them" Hans says but it all happens is that the audience laughs. One time and two time for a while that are really seconds but feel like hours to Hans

_They are still trying to torture you don´t listen to them you are fine you are good be calm be safe and stay calm_

"I didn´t do it" he says, but he gets in response is Lorenzo asking for the game footage to start rolling.

And it does. He sees himself, shockingly he almost doesn´t recognize himself as to when he is reaped and he has to choose Xander, poor Xander, to come with him. He sees himself and Xander in the chariots, dressed in dumb miner outfits, with no idea of what would come to happen for those little guys.

He sees himself in the interview, lining up to do something funny but falling at all time. He sees himself standing in his platform before the bloodbath happens, terrified and not willing to do anything serious to survive yet. He sees the countdown go down to zero and chaos ensues.

The District Four man kills the old man from seven, but he has hint of regret in his eyes. He sees Athos do what all peacekeepers do, and murder mindlessly the boy from eleven, in which that moment the boy from One attacks him, and then_ Logan murders his own brother. _

In that moment, he knows he did the right thing stabbing his dick.

He sees Xander being rescued by them, and then he sees Panima getting killed by Athos and _Logan._

_I am so glad I killed him_

Then, the days pass and he sees one of his fatal mistakes. Leaving Striga alone and her getting murdered by Lilith while protecting Mercy.

_Again, I am glad I killed them_

Death continue. The alliance more intact till that moment gets attacked by the careers, the man who had attacked Xander getting killed there, _while he was just telling a story_.

Death pass, and then he sees the career more people, Lilith killing an innocent girl, and then Xander dies, and Hans is about to cry, but no_, he won´t let them see him down again. _

And then the next second he sees Mercy die, and he is about to let it all go, but then he sees him killing Lilith, and anger fill his veins.

_She shouldn´t have done that. _

Then he sees Logan murdering even more people, and himself finishing off Cap.

And then the final battle and everyone gasps when they see him knifing´s dick.

_Like they haven´t seen it before. _

And the tape ends and he is so pissed, but for some reason, it doesn´t appear that way.

_I should hold myself back_

"What a death ride." Lorenzo says. "What death did you enjoy the most, the little ally of yours, or the therapist man?"

And before he could say anything to snipe back, someone in the audience shouts.

And then he sees the president coming in.

With a crown. Made out of animal flesh.

Dolphin´s to be exact.

Myriad walks over him and speaks up.

"Congratulations, victor of the Hunger Games" he says and he moves over him. Lorenzo is seemingly quiet, weird for him.

And as the president of Panem puts the crown over his head, he whispers in his ear.

"Go to my office next, boy. I need to speak to you in private"

And then after he leaves and the interview finishes (_finally), _and Ashmira tells him Lorenzo uses laughs tracks, he only has one thing in his mind.

_What the hell does he want?!_


	40. Before Home: Just a little talk

Hans is very nervous.

He doesn´t know what Myriad will say, or what does he want. He just knows he wants him there, and he just doesn´t know _why._

Hans asks a guard where the office of the president is. She tells him it is 3 blocks down the road.

As he walks through the night, Hans can only but worry. What does he want, what does he want. He can only but guess. Will he do the usual "No rebellion" thing? Will he tell him he has to go and sell his body? Will he tell him what he has prepared for him?

He doesn´t know

The guards are in the mansion are very calm, but the one who shows him the way smiles at him.

A smile. He hadn´t seen a smile in so long. The last one was before Striga died and everything collapsed.

When he finds the office in the presidential house, he does the proper thing.

He knocks.

"Come in boy." Myriad´s voice says as Hans opens the door. He turns around in his dark suit, which does nothing to help his old age. "I have been waiting for you."

Hans gulps down saliva, and he is terrified. Not of the man itself, but what the man can do with his power. Power makes people crazy, and power also makes people violent.

He doesn´t want to suffer anymore.

"Sit down, please. I have a duty to my guests." Myriad says. His voice is sharp and daggering and Hans wants to shut him up, but he can´t. He just can´t

Hans sits down and prepares for the worst.

"Si-Sir" the eighteen year old says. "What do you want me here for?

"Well, we have a lot to talk about, Mr. Miner." Myriad tells him. "After all, you owe me a favor"

_I do what?_

"Si-Sir" the boy from District Twelve says. "If I must know, why do I owe the honor of owing you a favor?"

"Well, I think it´s simply for covering up for your pedophilia."

And then Hans' whole system shouts down. His defenses lower, and he is powerless.

"I think you owe me a big time, Hansie."

"I-I" Hans tries to speak up, but he doesn´t know how to do it anymore.

"If you want to know how I got this information, I just will say that the guards in this city work for me mostly, so I get all the information I can from them. Also I got camera with sound hidden all over the Capitol and the Districts. That´s the best way to run a government, don´t you think?"

Hans tries to speak, to run, to do anything. But his body doesn't move. He is terrified.

"You owe a big time Hans. And I think I need I know how you can pay me back."

"How?" Hans says, rapidly but softly. He wants to get things done, so this nightmare ends soon.

When will he wake up?

"I think I have an idea. But it´s a bit complicated. You wouldn´t like it" He says and continues, looking at the window now. "I could just tell everyone you. I wonder how they would react."

"How can I do you a favor?!"

Myriad looks at him. "Well, Hans. I am glad you asked. See, I have people who bother me and my nerves all day. Politicians who wanted to overthrow me, rebels who also want to overthrow me, women who say I raped them. I need them all gone, and I think I know the guy who can make them, well, "disappear" for me. "

Hans knows there is only one way out of this. "Can I be that guy?"

"Of course, my dear friend. That´s what victors are for. To serve their nation as an example for them." He says and continues with sharp, disgusting voice. "Though, you will need training, so I will send a peacekeeper by your house every week to help you train for it. Sounds good?"

Hans nods with his head.

"Now, you can go my, Victor from the 100th Hunger Games. Prepare yourself for what is to come."

He continues one last time. "A lot is in your future, my dear friend"


	41. Home: Was it worth it?

Hans was mystified.

Again, he was in state of tenseness. Myriad was trying to use his secret in his favor, and now he felt more alone than ever. The boy from District Twelve didn´t know what to do. He was afraid, so afraid.

But he was on the train back home with Ashmira, so he decided to let things pass. He had some time later to deal with it, right?

Right?

* * *

As he landed on the District, the people on the station surprised him. Not due to the large quantity (since when Ashmira won people from the entire District came to see her). Not because his ex-bullies, Joseph, Cole and Coal were there. No, it was because someone was missing.

Akira was.

Shouna was there, with a baby, who looked a lot like him.

When he got off the train and after talking to a few people who wanted to talk with him (probably to get some money from him since he was rich now), he went to Shouna and asked.

"Where is she?"

Shouna only looked down and shook her head.

Things were going to be a long, long weekend.

* * *

After arranging his sister´s funeral and doing everything he could to give her and Xander a good bury, he directed his attention to the elephant in room.

_What shall he do with the baby?_

He couldn´t possibly keep it. Imagine him going insane one day, and losing his mind and hold of reality and hurting him. Imagine him growing up a little, and then Hans dies in one of his future missions. What he could suffer these days now? Why should he even suffer?

Then, one day, he decided what he should do. He told Shouna his plan, and while she was reluctant at first, she told him it was a good idea at the end.

If only it worked.

* * *

The office was a shiny and at the same time dirty place. The attendant there was just tidying her work place when the man and the woman entered.

The man had a fake beard in his face, and the woman obviously had put something in her breasts, but she wasn´t going to ask. They were probably teenagers who had ruined their life during intercourse.

At least the baby in the woman´s arms was gonna have a good life now.

"So" Jessica, the office worker said. "Which district do you want him to end up in?"

The man answered

"And do you want to leave a note with him?"

The man answered again

"Okay, you can leave him here and I will take care of the paperwork, okay?" Jessica said.

And then she said while they were leaving

"Have a good life without your son!"

* * *

The days passed, and it was time.

Hans knew it was time, but he just couldn´t just _know _it. He knew what would happen, he had been told of that, but he had been in denial all the time.

It wasn´t until the door was knocked one day he had been having lunch with Shouna in his house when he knew it had finally arrived.

The day his pain would start.

The man at the door was the traditional uniform for his job, and he seemed to know what he was doing. But he was happy for some reason, and that bothered Hans a lot.

The man extended his hand "Hi, I am Gus Ronfield. I am here to teach you some techniques to might wanna know."

He told Shouna to leave and she did.

The man left his guns in the dining table and talked.

"So, let´s get started, shall we?"


	42. Extra: Obituaries

**_Obituaries_**

* * *

District One:

Logan's friend Samuel entered the Hunger Games two years after Logan's death. He was victorious. The Van Diamantens put on the expected One charade of self-deprecation and fond chidings of their sons' shortcomings while reserving their heartbroken mourning for behind closed doors.

District Two:

The Waynes forsook their failed offspring in the peculiar way Two had of treating fallen children as though they were very late miscarriages. Aisha resigned from her Academy position under the derision of the students' parents. Matthias laid flowers on their graves and sorted through confused feelings of aborted romance and the strange signals he got from Aias and wanted to pretend he didn't understand.

DIstrict Three:

Xylia Lilth was Reaped for the Hunger Games. It was the year Samuel won. Her mother Helena later got confined to a mental asylum after the depression got the best of her.

District Four:

Louise Nott remarried for a semblence of normality. Her new husband was a kind and attentive man, but she was unable to regain what she had with her first love or recover from the loss of her child. She kept Atticus' love note in her breast pocket for the rest of her life.

District Five:

Athos vanished from his friends' minds the moment he died. They moved on to other friends and other amusements. His family refused to claim his corpse. Tucker's mother claimed both of them and their urns were buried in her yard.

District Six:

The Solozzos carried out their loved ones' last wishes. The terms of Striga's will were packed with anarchic antics such as burning her cannabis plants on a windy day and bequeathing every one of her bras to a man who once spurned her. Much of her financial assets joined Mercy's in the establishment of a community herb garden, linking her and her granddaughter's passions.

District Seven:

Caprium's friend Willow was drawn to Timber's friend Martin as they shared their grief. They remained friends until Martin died peacefully in his sleep two years later.

District Eight:

Lilith's friend Rowan never overcame his grief and trauma at seeing what the Capitol did to her. He was found three months later by his mother and quietly buried. Willis Ilinos never found it in himself to remarry, despite several relationships.

District Nine:

Amsterdam and Paris' friend groups merged over shared viewing sessions. They visited both graves yearly.

District Ten:

The moment he saw his beloved son die, Malachi reached the end of his story and passed away. The three victims of the Hunger Games were buried side-by-side.

District Eleven:

Jacob's boyfriend Damien Acacia was Reaped for the same Games Samuel won. He and Xylia allied, and they died together.

* * *

**_Placements_**

* * *

24th: Timber Hatchet (D7C)

23th: Jacob Appleseed (D11C)

22th: Kaj Van Diamanten (D1C)

21th: Calais Nott (D4R)

20th: Amsterdam Drapper (D9R)

19th: Aias Wayne (D2R)

18th: Panima Ri-Yuen (D8C)

17th: Striga Sollozo (D6C)

16th: Parter Lilth (D3C)

15th: Micah Allsbury (D10R)

14th: Atticus Nott (D4C)

13th: Paris Drapper (D9C)

12th: Tucker Galvani (D5R)

11th: Xander Bluelite (D12C)

10th: Jadee Appleseed (D11R)

9th: Aisha Wayne (D2C)

8th: Athos Flint (D5C)

7th: Mercy Sollozo (D6R)

6th: Lilith Ri-Yuen (D8R)

5th: Xaran Lilth (D3R)

4th: Maurie Stafford (D10C)

3th: Caprium Fael (D7R)

2th: Logan Van Diamanten (D1R)

1th/Victor: Hans Miner (D12R)

* * *

_**Placements of Districts**_

* * *

12th: D4

11th: D9

10th: D11

9th: D2

8th: D5

7th: D6

6th: D8

5th: D3

4th: D10

3th: D7

2th: D1

1th: D12

* * *

**_It has been so good to have all you all read this story, and hope you all submit to my new story and continuation of this "Delicious Death"_**

**_See you! (If you will continue to read my stories)_**

**_-Santiago_**


End file.
